One Piece Monster Pirates: Devils and Pirate Hucksters
by 4fireking
Summary: Now King of the Pirates with a crew of only four including himself, Razi like the rest of his crew have no dreams left and are mournful of the tragic loss of four great pirates and MIA of Jane. They can't go to any island without Marine's from their past and the remaining two Shichibukai. The time change made by Levil has opened another secret, new powers and new former allies. OC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**It was kind of hard trying to continue the story with only four crewmates left but lots of ideas came to me when your collaborating with CuddlyChristina. Hope you enjoy this first chapter, it was easiest to write when I had a whole trip to write it. **

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Indoors, a haven for children and and arduous labyrinth for adults. In an ever explorable world full of tyranny, wealth, families and genocide all buildings have to be architect on an island; indoors. What no one asks is what goes on indoors.

A derelict building completely black marbled with a downward angle right side of the roof, dozens of windows illuminating eerie yellow light, and a Keep Out sign with the first top painted brown and the word Out painted red. Weird to have a two letter sign painted in different colors, but that's what happens when an artist picks how he finishes something. This artist's name-unrecognizable except by his god awful work-Rony Deber.

Rony just turned thirty, had gelled short cut blond hair with a tuft of orange, pseudosilk suit he practically had to steal from three people to pay for, loafers regularly shined by a boy wishing he had Rony's life, and to complete his luxury look were his brown eyes. Brown like fur, brown like withered grass, and brown like his prisoner.

Rony walked into a Marine headquarters to pick up his package. Upfront was a young, long blond, pink iris, beautiful Marine receptionist. Her uniform had holes in the shoulders showing her youthful skin with a dab of metallic ink, a brown belt with a black X near the buckle, and a photoframe on her desk with the words Don't Let A Strange Dog Lick You with a brown dog on the bottom sticking out its tongue with a colorful yet scary image of germs.

Rony knocked on her desk. "Do you know if a Rony Deber received a package?"

She got up and ringed a bell from an open rectangular hole in the wall.

"Wowie, Rony Deber is is in my desk?" Rony said asininely to get the receptionist to look at him. "Maybe I'll ask him where he got his inspiration for-"

"I like listening to your music the same as I like hearing when my father tries kissing my mother on a carriage." She replied still facing the bell.

Rony made a kissing sound with a devious grin.

"He was always annoying and made people feel uncomfortable. Annoying and uncomfortable: two words that sum up your music."

Four one star Marines one year stationed on the quiet island, Mock Town, walked out the door with a reinforced steel cage. It was the same kind of steel used to make muzzles for Sea King's. Rony, being the man lazy in everything except his art, looked at the grouchy receptionist and said with a smile he thought was gorgeous but every girl wanted to punch him for it:

"Want to help take the box to my work place, sweetcake?"

"Ugh." She replied still remembering her boss explaining this idiots plan was important.

She closed her eyes, started the link. Beads of dark yellow stones circled her head where her hair started to shrink. Visibly hard to see only was seen by Rony and the Marine's pulling the box was the small dab of silver moved from her elbow up her neck and swirled in a long loop around her now hairless head. Two sharp leechlike appendages started growing out her backhead. Her eyes oscillated until they reflected the cage. With her newfound appearance fully finished she roared.

As the once youthful looking receptionist roared, the box started moving. All thoughts of boinking the young attractive receptionist was officially erased from Rony's mind, however, he turned on his voice recording Den Den Mushi to capture the roar. It was a little late of an introduction-Rony's appearance and personality shown-only his passion was in music not picture's of art, and no music was more feasible to record than animal sounds.

With just a roar from the mighty mutantlike lady, she moved the container to Rony's derelict house. The smug artist walked to the front door. With his most nauseating smug voice he said:

"Good girl. Now do you want to help me get it inside?"

She made a gnarling sound, scratched the air in front of her, but not touching Rony, then her eyes oscillated once more but the effects from before reversed. She was soon back to her normal blond and grouchy self.

"I was asked by my boss to help move the container; I didn't hear anything about getting it inside for you. See you tomorrow, hopefully where the experiments haven't killed each other."

"Can I at least know your name?" Rony asked.

"It's Klawra."

Rony slowly walked inside the house after Klawra introduced herself. He defied the wishes of the islanders and made the sand outside his home have a trapdoor. With just one push, the box was lowered, the sound of cannonball recording heard outside the home to get the birds away. The box was lowered to a ramp. When the sand doors closed the ramp moved the container through a slope of turns, each turn made in so few seconds even a professional skier couldn't make them.

That soon brought the container through a ephimeral track to a prison door. What was dormant behind the door would payoff anything the artist could think of.

Rony sat on his chair in front of many control buttons used for recording sound and editing it since no one wants to listen to every sound an animal makes. Rony saw it open those nocturnal eyes that could see in the dark, sniff that brown nose, and feel that exposed ab bone that would have killed a normal human, bipedal creature, mink, or even fishman. He was a human being, but now for three and a half days he was a werewolf. The only reason he was still alive was his spirit that helped him become the King of the Pirates.

The box was finally opened, out of it a savage snarl echoed through the prison room. The werewolf looked timorous and unmoving by that sound. This peeved Rony enough to press the intercom.

"Pirate King Razi or whatever your called in this form, this creature won't be satisfied by a fight if its mediocre. Get angry...for the sound."

The box was melted through by fire. The first look at the creature through the cage were its glittering gold scales. Soon fire suffused the whole prison room. It was after two strong headbutts broke holes in the roof did Razi see what he was up against, and he thought this would be a dream creature to fight if it wasn't kill or be killed situation.

A lopsided smile on one head and a hissing tongue on the other, a twin headed dragon felt good to be out and spread their wings. The left head's eyes were white with no other color while the other head had red irised with yellow pupils. It's body was three tails all long, big and not reticent of moving.

Rony felt his jaw drop, before he asked the creature, "Who the hell are you? And just what do you want from me?"

Rony's question was interrupted by Razi quick scratch against the dragon's neck. It felt like he hit the neck until he saw the long tail protecting the dual dragon's right side.

The creature then attempted to counterattack against Razi, ready to strike.

Both heads created a burning spark before two flamethrowers roared from their gullets trying to roast Razi.

Razi was quick enough to narrowly dodge them, looking to attack the dragon monster again.

He scratched in a flurry that was easily dodged by the dragon.

Rony was very angry. "Wolfang isn't making any sounds! I can't have this battle end with no triumph or agony."

This allowed the dragon to fight back by attempting to sink its fangs into Razi.

Rony saw Razi roar in pain as the dragon ripped off some of the flesh in Razi's arm. And he was fiddling with his sound control to capture it just right.

Despite the wound, Razi was desperate in eradicating the dragon.

He had an idea. With a loud and hate filled roar, all so he could give Rony the ecstasy he was looking for, he jabbed five fingers into the dragons neck. The dragon immediately fell to the ground, and Razi was waiting for his ears to pick Rony leaving so he could set the dragon free.

True to his word, Rony did indeed leave the room, with Razi and the dragon the only ones present in the room.

Razi quickly walked to the door that opened to his cage. In his bulky and ferocious form, he easily pushed the door and dragged the dragon out. Once he made it to the entrance the cave fell down in, he roared mightily at the ceiling. His roar opened the hatch.

Without a second to delay, he tossed the dragon out and jumped out soon after. With the same point of his fingers used on the same area, the dragon awake.

He groaned a bit, before he asked, "Where am I?" He then looked over at Razi and asked, "Who are you?"

Razi was in his werewolf form. Just because he could understand the dragon didn't mean he could communicate. He just grinned and shut the entrance to the hideout. The twin headed Dragon was sad after he left.

"Aw, this sucks." the dragon said to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me by editing this second chapter and writing somethings in between what I originally wrote for the second chapter. The first chapter I wrote in Canada while the second one was mostly written in a train station in Lisbon Portugal if you can believe it or not. Thank you for your support. **

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A young boy on a pony was moving through the Demon Land on his first assignment. He was of medium stature, sported dark brown, slightly spiky hair and greyish blue eyes. The pony he was riding was silvery grey in color, with a lush mane of pure black.

His family always started their future as assassination monks from the Jadero clan by exorcising a possessed monkey. Never have the family had to turn a healthy monkey into a possessed one for this training.

He finally found one, it smelled him before he even could find it. Now this monkey was ready for a fight against the young boy. The boy's weapon was a bo staff that could transform into its alternate form, a spear. With a twinkle in its red eyes, the monkey leaped.

"DePoss!" The boy shouted.

The monkey was impaled by a beam of red light.

The wand was now a vessel for the evil spirit. Forthwith, the boy planted his wand into the ground. Slowly, the fluid miasma dripped out. The boy's composure was seldom, but in his mind he was proud and had eagerness to tell his dad what he did.

What he didn't see was a dark shape blossoming out of the ground. The shape started as a mere bud until a hairless hand emerged with the bud and surprisingly grabbed the boy's shoulder.

He gasped in surprise, eyes widening as he asked, "What are you?"

"You have angered Loe's spirit of the Tail! Those who upset me will incur my wrath!"

The boy shuddered and flinched thinking he would be harmed. He felt something pushing against his cheek. It didn't feel sharp nor was it hurting him in any way. After it was suffice to say he didn't flinch during a vicious animal attack, he opened his eyes to see a wide grin from a monkey. A monkey with speckles of glitter, light brown fur, and a tuft of hair.

"Just kidding. Hi, young exorcist. Thank you. I've been trapped in that monkey for a countless number of days-and it'd turned us both into an evil spirit. Don't ever binge eat a banana and then fall asleep possessing a banana. Ate me in three bites."

The boy stared into the monkeys eyes before pushing it off his shoulder.

"Your welcome, but humans and spirits cannot be friends."

Loe never fell on the ground. Being a small monkey that clings to trees and having a tail coiling around tree branches, he easily got on the horses strap and boosted himself on top its ass.

"Hey, I told you that you're not coming along with me." the boy said.

Loe stuck his tongue out, before asking, "Do you got a name or something?"

The boy didn't answer Loe's question making the monkey spirit angry.

"In all my years of being an exorcist's spirit guardian you are the first one not not humbled to work with me."

The monkey spirit blew the boy a raspberry. His raspberry didn't end until another male appeared riding an adult horse. He looked exactly like a samurai, but also donned a hat made out of bamboo. He also had long black hair in a ponytail and brown eyes, and the horse he was on sported a brown mane with dark black hair.

"Zekao, sorry I'm late to see you depossess your first evil spirit. I will though do you a courtesy with your anti-demon weapon."

The older man held up his bow expecting Zekao to do the exact same action with his wand. Zekao did and their weapons were touching, until the man yoinked the wand out of his hand and threw it on the ground. Broken splinters of brown wood on one side and white on the other side.

"An exorcists weapon can't handle all the chi repeated exorcisms cause. It's best to destroy them now before a large accumulation creates a chi supernova strong enough to obliterate you and leave nothing left but flecks of dead skin."

Zekao's only reaction was looking into his teachers' eyes; not a eye on Loe just his pupil,Zekao-was startled by a sudden projectile.

Four sides, all sides big and axelike, and it was transparent green from the sun making it almost invisible. Zekao trembled and quaked. Loe also saw the projectile, stretched his crawling arm back,

Spirits were not as incapable of helping as the dead.

With a single punch, he manifested as a gray vapor inside the adult horse, a temporary possession to save the humans he didn't even know. As a horse, as a teacher of the only other horse the small pony, he brayed to run which confused the pony. Remembering what sound a horse was suppose to make, he ordered the small horse to scatter and he did.

"What the..." the teacher exclaimed.

All the worriment about his horse vanished when the thing closing in missed him. The teacher ensconced on his possessed horse turned his head to see his attacker-she was a beautiful woman in vermilion, but her eyes reflected seething hate. She was tall, voluptuous, with flaming (figuratively speaking) red hair that was long and ended at her waist, and dark violet eyes.

Perched and standing three times her size was a big blue parrot. He had blue feathers all around, but also had a buff, human-like appearance, and his eyes were a vibrant shade of gold. The teacher had no idea what respite this woman had for him; he didn't even know who she was.

Sewn straight lines of her blue fan stood out like Beli in a wanted poster. Her fan moved in a bludgeoning way. When she moved her fan that way a projectile all too familiar was unleashed.

"Zekao, get as far away from here as you can!"

Like all decisions where he had to move, Zekao was making a dreary expression, but his pony went in the direction away from the attack and galloped away. His student no longer closeby, the teacher rotated his arm with the bow and arrow also around his arm. He aimed his arrow and charged the aura that was his chi.

"Deposs Shot!"

An arrow fired with enough chi to take down an elite demon soared with power and precision. The wind projectile was obliterated-easily like a balloon-and kept moving for the woman's shoulder. She was protected from the arrow by her bird becoming a birdlike ghostly apparition of itself, flying above the woman, and becoming a gale of whirlwind creating a barrier that reflected the arrow.

"Sorry, but some ghosts are good at fighting chi-filled exorcists like mine. Too bad you never studied hoe to use Haki."

She finally stood on her feet instead of lying down and fell from the cliff twenty feet to the ground. The fall was unfazing to the woman when her bird friend grabbed her back by its talons.

A surprise move from the pet who once been quiet, her bird descended with its cascading feathers blown by the breeze.

Loe, still possessing the teacher's horse, didn't give the teacher time to wait for the mean lady to get on the ground. He galloped away, the teacher wobbling his legs trying to get Loe to stop, he wasn't going to.

"Who are you? You're not my loyal horse who would stay with me through Dragons and demons!" The teacher shouted.

"You can have that horse back because if she gets me I want to die as me!" Loe shouted from the horse's mouth.

The horse barfed Loe out from his butt. He slowly puked more of the tiny bodied monkey until his head was stuck in his mouth. A muffled roar was made by the monkey, tickled the ganglia of the horse. What finally lodged the monkey out was a failed projectile causing the horse to trip to the right, and wriggling his fingers on the horses mouth freed Loe.

"Thanks for the help, crazy wind witch. It's good to be free."

What stood onwards was a big species of cascading muscles, serrated teeth, tiny eyes that made the sharp teeth look bigger, and a metal pipe grasped tightly was upwards ahead. Fishman Karate Momo.

The spirit monkey shuddered. "What's worse? Being swallowed by the wind or a bipedal sawshark?"

Momo arrived right before a devastating attack was made by the woman. Her hair thrashed back and forth with her eyes glowering violet purple. Wind swirling to create a hurricane and a big bird spirit screeching as it merged with the hurricane.

Loe wished he just stayed in the horses mouth instead of seeing his demise from the woman with a demon core heart.

The next person to make a move against the wind laden witch was the fishman Momo. Pipe in hand, an orange-yellow aura surged through his body with the aura making a sphere at the peak of Momo's weapon. He evolved in power because he was relentless.

"Fishman Deposs: Leviathan Lance!"

Two people were painstakingly inside Momo's head when he shouted the name: Daniel and Magare. Trauding out his pipe a blue visage-silhouette hard to see in full picture other than it was a blue sea serpent with white eyes a balloon could float through. It wrapped itself, coiled its own tail yet standing tall with its treelike neck, and then it moved so fast even the most vigilant person could miss it.

The woman went sailing while her bird was roiling in a long wave shown to be the tail. The last thing to be seen of the parrot was flecks of purple fog before it dissolved. The woman managed to land safely on the side of the cliff she fell off of.

"You took away what was most important to me, pirate!" She yelled. "I will see you-"

"Suffer the same as _I_ did?" Momo responded before she could finish. "I don't drag out my fights anymore. Come back stronger than me so I can go toe to toe with someone stronger than Eiza, Magure, and Razi. Only me or someone as strong as them can kill me."

The woman grit her teeth and replied, "Fine, you've won this round, but sooner or later, I'll have the last laugh, fish boy!"

She was now using magic to get away from Momo. She did it floating away, same as a kite, but she had purple painlike ink show up on her face.

"I will stop fishman from becoming exorcists."

She made more empty threats on Momo, but they were not important, just tedious bickering like every loser who lost to Razi, Nathan, Sage, Hesoi and other ally pirate captains.

Momo stuffed his weakly glowing pipe behind his back. He was in the prescience of a boy thrown into a battle he could not win; it was only natural to the fishman he would make him a new gi.

"You okay there, kid?" he asked.

Zekao nodded, before he got up. "Yeah...but, man that match was a hoot!" he exclaimed.

Momo got to work with his materials and his work tools. However, the teacher interrupted his work trying to grab his pipe.

"Thank you for your courage and advance skills with your Deposs tool. Now it's time to break—"

Momo flashed something small but also razor sharp like the inside of a piranha's mouth. Momo yanked out his own teeth—regrowing the ones he lost—and making the teachers' skin crawl holding it to his face.

"No one is allowed to touch my one and only weapon except me and my nakama. Break it, and I swallow you one chunk and at a time."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." he told him, slightly embarrassed at what he tried to do.

The teacher just stood like he was listening to a mad fool, until he walked away.

"You'll kill your self. Fine, catapult yourself to Hell."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Wow, since my second page viewers have gone up by twenty. Thank you guys, I guess I'm not completely dead in whatever magic I had that made the first story a bit of a success but not like other fanfictions mentioned over the internet. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

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Rony used the military contingency in Muck Town to haul rare and dangerous beasts, but being the artist he had to do more exhausting work. Rony had coffee, pastries hard on the outside but soft on the inside, and was expecting a doorbell ring at seven in the morning

Rony used the recordings from the latest scuffles when Razi was wounded yet fighting for his life as the opening. He wanted the excitement of thinking the star was going to die happen soon so to keep the miscreants happy.

Just then, he heard a knock on the door, prompting him to go and check the door, even if a doorbell didn't ring.

He first looked in the mirror to make sure he was gorgeous. Maybe a second impression would help her see any girl would die for a chance to be with him.

Once he made sure his hair was neatly brushed, as well as his face not sporting any blemishes, and his clothes all neat, he went to the door and answered it.

He saw the face of Klawra. Before he even opened the door to let her in, she let herself in and marched around the house.

"Sit down. Have some apple slices with lemonade." He offered.

Klawra nodded, before she found what she was looking for. Once she began chewing on some of the apple slices Rony told her about, she said, "I came here to talk to you about something important."

Her eyes could see the monitors he had of Razi, and she found if horrid how malnourished and abused he was. Her fury could not be contained.

"What did you to Razi?" she asked.

This caused Rony to stand there in shock, unable to try and find an answer for her, which made her impatience all the more apparent.

"I just did what I needed to make filigree sounds come out of the pirate kind. I fed him what he killed, but he never leaves any bones."

Rony was daft enough to not know Razi has been freeing the caged animals.

5"Do you realize that you could've starved him to death?! You should be seriously ashamed of yourself!" Klawra retorted.

"I'm sure your boss will be glad he's so weak. Now when I'm finished, I can handle him back of her so she can make a public execution for him." Rony said with a big smile.

"No...you cruel bastard!" she yelled, her face full of anger as she leered at him.

Rony was afraid she was going to transform back into her scary monster form...until he remembered he had his tape recorder.

He quickly retrieved it, and was ready to record something Klawra would consider humiliating.

"He may be a wolf captain but your a wolf eel. We left him her to be careened by you before his execution, and you turned him into a plight on his figure and mentality. Just look at how much curvature went into his room only for him to be small and weak."

"You're a monster...that's what you truly are!" Krawla exclaimed, ready to attack him out of fury.

Suddenly, a metallic hourglass figurine emerged from the ground protecting Rony. Klawra trembled in fear, it was her boss doing this.

"His work is cruel but necessary, Klawra. If your so worried be a dear for me and see Razi in his cage please."

Slowly a metal head started to move up in a slow girating way. When her head was fully on her neck, her colorful and mesmerizing eyes looked at Klawra's terrified pupils, and did a one hundred and eighty degree stare into Rony's.

"Razi's next opponent will be her, this decoy." She said.

"Decoy?" Rony asked.

"Don't be surprised. Even Fleet Admiral Akainu had decoys when he wanted people to think he was exploring the islands."

"Oh, right..." Rony said, scratching the back of his neck.

She turned her head in a one hundred and eighty degree turn back to Klawra.

"Stop standing with one untrembling arm and your mouth agape and get in that Pirates cage!" She ordered.

Klawra grit her teeth; as much as she wanted to obey her command, she had also felt the urge to fight back.

Klawra walked outside the home of the fascist Rony and roared. Her roar opened the underground door to Razi's lair.

She quickly went into the lair, and once she was inside, the underground door closed itself shut, so that that creature wouldn't reach Klawra.

What she did was watch him and wait for his precision strike.

Klawra stood perfectly still. It was her downfall as something black looming over her scratched her through the face and ripped her jaw apart. Razi's ears perked up hearing that.

"Hm?" he asked, before he went over to where the noise came from, and frowned in disappointment as he looked down at Klawra.

Her body was sprawled on the ground with a being with a bulkhead-esque forehead, rocky exterior, and sharp long metal hands standing over her.

From the safety of his control room Rony was laughing, until a female laughed echoed through his home.

This caused him to flinch, and asked, "Who's there?!"

"Still after a cacophonous assault, Rony you rat. Well like a cat roaring like a jaguar I'm full of surprises."

"Klawra?" Rony asked. "B-But your there...on the ground beaten?"

"That body isn't my vessel, it's a shell. It's an instrument used to help me be seen as a military woman, a meandering of the tedious work a human has to go through when really I'm more wild than you'll ever know."

The actual Klawra emerged, which shocked Rony even more.

She wasn't the blond girl he met in the receptionist office, she was her fully hybrid monster form. Rony was surprised, but fear of her was nonexistent.

"Heh...so you've finally showed up, huh? I congratulate your efforts, Klawra." Rony said, sporting a confident smirk.

In her beast form, Klawra had no voice. What she did have was claws quick enough to cut through a volley of bullets.

She charged towards him, ready to strike him with her claws.

She was however trapped by a lariat looking metallic object that twirled her around and sent her spinning. She fell through a large gaping hole that used to be a wall. She landed right back in the cage that killed her decoy.

Klawra growled as she tried to break apart the bars in the cage, trying to get out. But then the creature used the same move that killed her decoy. In a strange turn and twisted show of love, Randy was jabbed in the back instead of Klawra.

This bewildered her, as she blinked her eyes as to trying to figure out what was happening. What she did know was the werewolf was now an injured boy on the ground and the monster that stabbed him seemed hungry to devour his body.

The boy rubbed his eyes, blinking as he looked around. "Where am I...?" he asked in his stupor.

"What are you talking about?" Klawra asked. "Your still in this pompous son of a bitch jail."

"Jail...? Oh no..." the boy said, before clutching his head in fear. "I wanna get out and go home!" he muttered to himself.

Razi turned his head to look at the scaly creature looming on her bipedals. When she spoke to him, she didn't even move her mouth. What did move was the serrated blade hand that almost plunged into Razi's head!

"Shit!" he exclaimed, swiftly getting up to his feet.

Razi managed to get away just before he had a puncture hole. His biggest problem now was trying to transform.

I've gotta think fast, he thought to himself, his heart pounding like crazy.

Klawra was acting unhelpful, choosing to watch Razi struggle to stay alive over helping her savor.

"Don't be looking at me like you want my help." she simply told him with a scoff.

That was the last thing the marine hybrid said before using her raw strength to pull open the retracting door and close it after walking out.

Razi grit his teeth in anger, realizing that he would end up doing this on his own.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**I woke up at 2 am the day I posted this chapter, and spent most of the editing. What got me to wake up that earlier was the emotional conversation I had with someone who wasn't happy lieu berated me because they didn't get what they wanted. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

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Or so he thought. Razi noticed a shadow moving slowly on the ground. Slowly the shadows rose until a long hair lady with an hourglass figurine appeared. It was Razi's nakama Eiza, and she was gripping the monsters hand with foggy ice.

"Get your pipe hands off my captain."

The monster grunted, until Eiza kneed the monster in the gut, causing it to hit the ground. Razi was surprised to see her there, and asked, "Eiza...how on earth did you get here?"

"It all started when I finally started to actually care that you were missing. Two nights of Magare sleeping outside your room waiting for you to come home...I finally got a clue when I saw a Marine base. Some blabbermouths couldn't keep their mouths shut and soon found you here. As for the ability to use shadow powers, well, that's a lot story."

Razi smiled, before he said, "I'm glad to know somebody was concerned about me. Now let's get outta this hellhole!"

"Oh, sure. Let's." Eiza replied, nodding in agreement.

A puddle of shadows allowed her and Razi to sink through the ground while Klawra was in precipitous alarm.

'_Whoa_', Razi thought to himself, _'I didn't know Eiza could do something like that!'_

Klawra was anxious to run out and run through the town to find Razi and Eiza, until she was interrupted by Rony.

"That's a hit. I have everything we need to show your boss."

"A hit, huh? What for?" Klawra asked him.

"Unconditional love, sacrifice, surprise. It's all recorded in my sound studio and will be presented to your boss."

Outside, Eiza materialized in the neighborhood with her sickly looking and impaled captain. They were alone and Razi was still conscious. She tried to drag him around the corner of a fence, but Razi said the words that stopped her.

"Don't. There are a dozen Marine soldiers waiting for you that way."

"And you know this because you have super hearing?" she bridged.

"No. Because the grass over there is warning me about them."

Eiza blinked out of instant confusion. "Grass? Are you delusional or something?" she asked.

"No, I'm not." Razi replied.

Eiza took her chances going around the corner. She wasn't afraid of some low rank Marine soldiers standing there. Like Razi told her, there they were, cutlasses and revolvers inhand.

Noticing the soldiers, the duo had to think of a way to provoke them, such as taunting or perhaps bluffing...or maybe both.

Eiza though had a better idea. With one hand, she conjured a bird made out of ice. With a breath of air, she bird flew above the horde of Marine soldiers, distracting them. The Marine's foolishly put their hands over their foreheads to look at the bird with shimmering light refracting through it.

Suddenly, a long sharp jab pierced one of the soldiers shoulders. He howled from the agonizing pain, but that was short lived attention when another long sharp object went right through another Marine's shoulder. Using the small shadows created by her bird, Eiza was controlling the dotted shadows and turning them into elongated lariat weapons.

The other Marines that weren't hit had noticed Eiza's moves, and pulled out their weapons, getting into the stances while the ones that were hit tried to get back to their feet.

The Marines fired their bullets straight into Eiza, not a single one hit the wounded Razi. Since Eiza was a Logia user her body just turned into a statue of ice with a few cracks.

"Surf and Turf: Falling Scorpion Strike!" A voice shouted from above.

It was Momo who was riding his pipe before letting go. There were many names for staff strikes that he learned as a child, this move was the scorpion a downward jab.

They struck right through several of the Marines, which caught them all by surprise. As he got off the pipe, Momo told Eiza and Razi, "Nice seeing you guys again; now let's floor it!"

Eiza raised her hand up facing the ground. "Ice Rink!"

With her hand she sprayed the ground turning it into slippery ice for her, Razi, and Momo to slid on away from the marine's. Momo stayed in the back twirling his pipe around like controlling a ship helm.

This prompted the Marines to instantly fall flat on their butts, unable to get up thanks to the rink Eiza made on the ground, though some tried their best.

While the three pirates had a head start, Eiza whipped out her Den Den Mushi used to call Magare. Hers had a yellow face with a brown shell and leaves growing from the back of the shell. It's expression was tired, weak, and sad.

"Magare, its Eiza. We found Razi and we are coming to the hideout. Shoot an arrow line for us to escape."

The Den Den Mushi didn't look tired anymore and even smiled with rosey cheeks and eyes wide open.

"Understood." was Magare's response. And with that, she shot an arrow line for the pirates to use as they made their escape.

Eiza made it to the village and without much relief for that part she kept moving until she arrived at the hotel they were staying in. She piggyback Razi as she rushed in through the door and up the stairs. The hotel manager didn't have any reactions.

"We are checking out of this hotel today." Eiza said before sprinting all the way upstairs.

"But you paid for two nights stay." The manager replied.

"Sorry, but it's time for us to pay up!" Momo added.

"I...Um...okay..." the manager said, letting out a small sigh as he rolled his eyes.

Magare was by the window, long string of rope from her bow attached to the window shelf and connected to Golden Yumi.

"Took you guys long enough." she said with a small smile.

Eiza handed Razi to her. With her Amazon strength she could fire an arrow through a boulder and certainly hold a male-one who still smelled nice even with the smell of blood on him-ziplining with her bow to the ship.

"Are you okay, Razi?" Magure asked.

"Yeah...though I really could use some patching up here." Razi replied.

"You know where that punk headed off to?" A Marine shouted to the hotel employee, whom he had already dealt with in combat.

"I think he went upstairs!" he shouted.

"The moment we get on the ship, me and Eiza will take care of that." She replied.

Holding onto Razi, she jumped on her rope string and ziplined out of the hotel window. Momo almost used his pipe to Surf and Turf down, but a long tail stuck down and swayed back and forth for Momo. The bulky fishman grabbed the tail and went down. Eiza, not trusting showing herself on a rope, used an ice bird to fly over the rope. With her shadow powers she was sucked into the small shadow her ice bird was making.

Once she left, the marines broke down the door.

"Hey, where did that snow queen and her friend go?!" one of them asked.

X_X_X_X

Razi didn't feel good moving so fast with Magare holding onto him, but he was glad to be getting away from the Marines back at the hotel.

The group would then head out, traveling back to their ship, until they eventually showed up. However, what they didn't know was that a surprise was waiting for them, much to Razi's shock.

It was Klawra, on all fours with her tail swishing like a wolf-eel and her face tittering at how she caught up with the crew.

"Rony the dick gave my boss your recording, Wolf Fang. She says it needed more...contorting wails of agony. I shall deliver you to her so she can record it herself."

"You again? I'm not in the mood for that right now." Razi told her, sporting an annoyed frown.

"Whoever you are, your not very smart." Magare told Klawra.

Before Klawra could retort towards her, something strange happened around her.

The crew found themselves, as well as their ship, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. This was actually due to Magure having successfully used a spell to trick Klawra. Magare and Razi were still zip lining across the city. The rope, once normal, was enchanted to create longer strands of the rope to move towards the real Golden Yumi.

"Did you just cast a spell or something?" Razi asked.

"Of course, I did. Besides it was better to get away from that creature for now since you're all beaten up quite badly." Magure replied.

Below, many monk looking men were watching the rope move through town. The leader of the group, Zekao's teacher, was aiming an arrow at Momo.

"If he doesn't discard that weapon he endangers us all. Kill him!"

"Shit, looks like we got company below!" Momo exclaimed.

Momo's alarm came just seconds before a volley of arrows were fired towards him. Luckily, Eiza came out of the shadows, just her head and nothing else, and exhaled a strong breath of ice that froze that arrows.

As she emerged and let out her ice breath, it instantly froze the enemy's arrows, causing Zekao's teacher to ask, "Who was that? Where did that ice even come from?"

Momo realized he couldn't stay up in this rope while his friends were endangered because of him. He maybe a shark fishman, but the monsters were below. He let go of Kaya and landed below the volley of arrows.

The archers fired again, this time Momo destroyed the arrows with every twirl of his pipe.

As a few archers encircled him, Momo was ready to attack, as he charged towards one of them, smacking him upside the torso and head with his pipe. The other archers positioned to fire, but Momo had a cool move he liked trying.

"Fishman Karate Tornado!"

Momo took a deep breath-a sparkle of memories including his mother's death and holding his lovers corpse flashing in his eyes-and his pipe spinning around while his foot pirouette off the ground. The archer's were knocked down, very few sounds were made before they passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Part of what makes George R.R. Martin's long running series good is his ability to have a character with a great strength or something their proud of and then taking it away trying to make them find out who they are without them: Jaime with his sword arm, Jon Snow with his honor, and Theon with his special member. They played with this in Dragon's Prince but it was more so the brother would tell his sister he was ordered to assassinate the King. You'll understand why I'm telling you this once you read this chapter. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

This left the human man standing before Momo, bewildered but asked, "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"You have no honor but to do as you please." Momo sneered. "What is your name?"

"My name?" the man asked. "It's Togo."

"Togo. I will never destroy this pipe, Togo, no matter how many more exorcists you send to fight me."

"Then perhaps I have no other choice than to deal with you personally." Togo told him.

Momo charged at Togo while Togo focused on Momo's dorsal fins in his arms. Once a shark loses his dorsal fins it could only die a slow and agonizing death.

He used his naginata to swipe at the targeted area, and though Momo took some damage from the weapon, it was clear he wasn't going to have his fins destroyed.

"Fishman Karate: Roaring Fox Foot Claw!"

Momo moved closer to the exorcist like a rabid dog but with a foot strong enough to break crates.

His fish feet sliced through parts of Togo's upper body, nearly shredding them off. Momo would follow that up with a devastating kick or two.

Somehow Togo was still standing, and in his eyes was a reflection of Momo's demise. Before Momo could turn around, sharp teeth ripped through his back fin and claws slashed his arm fins off.

Momo's eyes widened in shock as he felt his fins destroyed by the strange figure that he tried to see from behind. As he hit the ground, he grunted, attempting to look up at the figure.

"Your witch friend may be hard to capture, but you fishman were almost too easy to find." Klawra said as she was the attacker. Her attention shifted to Togo after she sadistically stepped on his severed fin. "Congratulations. By helping the Marines capture the Pirate King's third mate, we will offer you anything as a reward."

"We exorcists are not interested in materialistic possessions such as Beli. My only wish is to destroy this pirates weapon."

"Is that so? Granted, this poor fish is close to death." Klawra said.

Momo, on the other hand, grit his teeth as he crawled to his weapon, trying to take it and prevent Togo from ruining it.

"I will never let you take...my families only possession!"

Momo's pipe flowed in a golden aura like a lighthouse light before he stood off the ground in a feat of rage. He should be paralyzed in the legs right now.

"What?!" Togo asked, watching as Momo grabbed his weapon, and thought he couldn't move his legs, the fishman was still ready to beat Togo.

"Your weapon is suppose to destroy life...how is it making you stronger?"

"It would rather help a beautiful fishman than an ugly beast Marine. Surf Spinner Right Punch!"

Togo didn't see the spinning punch coming, as it landed right into his face. He hit the ground, and it was clear he had been beaten.

Momo and Klawra faced one another ready for the next battle. Klawra raised her claws and opened her mouth up wide...except she quivered when an arrow was shot directly into her shoulder.

Magure, having carefully aimed at Klawra, had already shot her arrow, leading to injuring Klawra's shoulder. "Nice shot!" Eiza told her.

"No problem." Magure replied.

Momo was glad to see Magure. He took a step towards her...the agony returned and he could no longer stand up straight. He eventually fell as his legs didn't support his weight.

"Help..." he managed to say, groans of pain escaping his throat.

"Shit..." Magure muttered as she helped Momo up, wrapping one of her arms around his shoulder, much like someone would do to an already friend. "What happened?" she asked.

"After I fell down and fought the people attacking our group, this Marine Beast ripped off my dorsal fins on my arms and back."

"Damn, there has to be a way to stop that monster!" Magure exclaimed.

"Yeah, there has to." Momo added.

Magure and Momo made it back to the Golden Yumi before Momo finally thought of something.

"How did you know where I was?"

"Kaya had his eyes on you since your fall and told us." she replied.

"Kaya told you where I was?"

"No, silly. Kaya told Razi and Razi told me for Kaya where you were."

"Wow, thanks! I'm really thankful you'd come to my aid." Momo said, sporting a weak but genuine smile.

Magure nodded, and replied, "No problem."

They made it on the ship where the blood in Momo's face turned pale. Razi was barely breathing on the ground with no cover up for the exposed bone in his chest.

Momo groaned, and the other nakama indicated that he was in great pain. It also didn't help that they also discovered the bone in Razi's chest.

Meanwhile, Rony was walking back into the Marine base. Inside, he saw a larger man as the receptionist over Klawra. Though he appeared lanky, he was fairly muscular. His hair was ash grey, shoulder length and way, while his eyes were a shade of dark black. His right hand was also replaced by a stump.

"Rony, here to see Heartz." he said. His stump kind of looks like a piece of shit, he thought to himself.

"Go right in. And don't think I don't see you grimace when you look at my arm." he said.

Rony rolled his eyes before entering Heartz's office. Heartz then asked, "So what brought you here to see me?"

"Another idea I have. What if we build an orchestra of-"

"Did you finish recording the pirate king's voice?"

"Well yes, but-"

"Then your services are no longer required. You are free to leave. Get out of my sight before I deal with you."

Rony sighed as he dejectedly left the office, his suggestion seemingly having fell on deaf ears.

Heartz wanted to hear back from Klawra, see what she could tell about Wolffang Razi.

He then heard her voice, as she emerged into his office. "Razi and his crew had escaped, though I've left a fairly considerable injury on him." Klawra explained.

"Very good...but despite the injury, it seems as though you didn't kill him completely." Heartz told her.

"No, that will come later. When I get to him again he'll wish for death."

"Not if I get him first. I have to pay the boy back for what he did to me and my Admiral Five."

A voice that could only be the alpha member of the Admiral Five Sukuza.

Klawra heard two rumours about him: he was called the king of the wilderness for his plant powers and he was gay. Heartz then asked, "Are you sure about that? Going it alone does sound a bit risky."

"Who says us sweet Marine's are going alone?" A gaily voice sang.

That was none other than the flamboyant and crimson red haired Marine Hansel.

"Hello, Hansel." Heartz said in a monotone voice. "So it seems that you and your so-called boyfriend and the other Admiral Five are doing this mission together?" Klawra asked.

"I'm not interested in Hansel, although he's confessed three times...that he wants to double date." Sukuza explained.

"I also want to find the Fuboyashi Trident and bury Fishman Karate Momo." Hansel confessed.

"I see...so it's settled then. You and the rest of the Admiral Five shall go after Razi." Heartz said.

"Understood, boss!" Sukuza said, nodding his head.

X_X_X_X

Momo never liked sitting down, but now he was in a wheelchair. His legs, his arms, his skills were all less than nothing.

One of the doctors came up to him and asked, "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not! I'll never be able to take part in any more fighting now that my limbs are deemed worthless." Momo replied.

The doctor had no answer for Momo's scrutiny. He wasn't use to being a voice for twenty something fishman pirates with enough strength to rip him in half.

"I'll call your friends in."

Momo sighed, before his nakama were then brought into the room, all in shock and bewilderment upon seeing him bound to a wheelchair.

"Great. Our only member who can swim is now incapable of going into the water!" Eiza complained. "This whole crew is going to drown when we sail into a tsunami."

"What do we do now? Should we recruit someone who's good at swimming? Maybe another fishman? Or possibly a human?" Magure asked.

"No one is just going to join a pirate king whose only king because he did something in another time his daddy helped him with, has a paraplegic fishman, a captain with an exposed tummy bone, and a snake that is wrapped around your bosoms."

"Kaya would never coil around my-"

Magure cried so loud it woke everyone on the hospital boat. A hospital boat was Tony Tony Chopper's own idea after knowing how many pirates get sick or injured at sea. As Eiza blatantly explained, Kaya was tightly pressed in the meat area of Magure's chest. Kaya kept squeezing until Eiza picked up Momo's pipe.

"Deposs Metal Blow!" Momo shouted as hard as he could, feeling the sorrow of watching his own move performed by Eiza because he was incapable of doing it.

To Eiza's surprise, and to Momo's relief, the move actually worked.

Lou the monkey popped out of Kaya as the snake loosened its grip.

The others were surprised as to how Lou got in the boat with the others. "How did he get here?" Eiza asked.

"I'm a spirit. All I need to do is possess a seagull and I can go anywhere. But a seagull doesn't have a good view of what she has."

"Lecherous spirit." Eiza grumbled.

Lou just chuckled, causing Magure to roll her eyes.

"I originally came here to try to convince you to take me in as your spirit, but I see your no longer the strong exorcist I saw before. My solution, enjoy my time here with some nice ladies. Even monkeys like to jerk-"

"Ice Tub!"

Eiza did the same thing she did to Yokai's son to Lou, freeze him so he couldn't move his arms and legs.

"Oh, come on!" Lou yelled with an annoyed tone.

"Now that we got him out of the way, it's about time we resume our conversation together, minus Lou." Eiza told the other nakama.

The nakama continued their conversation but no decisions were made, just constant bickering Momo wished he could just leave from, but his legs were like paper. His legs only felt something when there was wind.

X_X_X_X

In the end, Momo's new job became nightwatchmen. He had his pole close to his arm, he looked at the sea, and he hollered if he saw someone.

Momo was motivated to do something else that night. With his Momo, he controlled the pipe to move him towards the plank. Every movement he made he exhaled a breath he held in at that hospital.

Momo moved where he wanted to be. For the first time since the incident he smiled...his wheels going over the edge and he falling into the translucent water below.

Momo felt no regrets falling into the water even when the half open cut wounds of the dorsal fins spewed blood by the lodes.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**I managed to finish this chapter thanks to the collaboration between me and CuddlyChristina. Thanks for staying intune. **

X_X_X_X

Momo smiled as he felt the ocean engulf him, as he hoped for a peaceful slumber.

He slept until the light beamed down on him. Once his nakama found him, their chagrin of his choice made them turn red holding their anger. Magure hoisted him out with a long serpentine pink snake tail she received after fusing with Kaya.

"How did...?! Did she just?!" Eiza asked.

"She fuses with people, Eiza." Razi explained. "Even the seaweed are telling me they know she has that special Devil Fruit power."

Everyone was amazed as Momo made it to the surface, surprisingly still alive, with Magure hoping to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Momo however just opened his mouth and spoke as if he didn't spend too much time underwater.

"The waves underwater, the current if you will, it helped me move my arms all night. But even if they moved underwater...I still cannot move my arms when I'm standing on land."

This surprised Razi and the others, to which Razi exclaimed, "That's fantastic! And yet it's bittersweet at the same time."

Razi was distracted by this when he heard the seaweed mention a typhoon heading their way. Razi remembered that the Strawhats rode on a typhoon like the one described and it led them to Skypiea.

"A typhoon will arrive very soon." the seaweed told them.

"A typhoon? Where?" Razi asked, blinking in confusion.

"Thirty meters north you'll find the typhoon."

"Aside from our boat being useful to some extent, are you sure that it's safe or something?" Magure asked.

"Absolutely not." Razi admitted. "Not to be the guy that makes Momo feel bad, but he wouldn't last a minute in it with his wheelchair sliding off the boat. My idea, make him go on his stomach for the ride."

"Not too bad of an idea, there, Razi. Let's do it!" Eiza replied.

With Magure's help the girls put Momo on his bellybutton. Although he couldn't move his muscles, a part of him showed a face that he was not happy about it.

"I really don't think I can do this..." he told them.

"You've gotta do it, Momo! Put your mind into it, and give us all you've got!" Razi spoke with encouragement.

It was too late for him to turn back now. The tornado was dead ahead.

He grit his teeth as he began to move on his stomach, and with words of encouragement flooding into his ears, he moved faster and faster, and hoped they would all narrow avoid the incoming tornado.

What helped Momo stand still was his teeth gripping the metal pipe he wouldn't let go of, he could thank Razi for putting it in his mouth at the right moment. Unfortunately, they weren't able to avoid the tornado and were being sucked up. Momo still started to slip, hitting the pipe against the floor each time he moved.

"He's going to fall off the ship! Someone grab Momo!" Magure shouted while holding onto the railing.

"Really?" Eiza said freezing her arm to the railing. "First of all, nine of the Straw Hat pirates fell off their ship."

Everyone waited for her second point but Eiza made just one.

"And?!" Magure asked.

"That's it. First one I say is quicker and more scathing which works well for me."

Razi looked through the eye of the storm on his own and saw...a nice refreshing beam of sunlight that rejuvenated him.

"Hey, we're heading to Skypeia!" he called out.

"Really?" Eiza asked.

"Yeah, so let's get to our destination and check it out!" Razi replied.

"What destination?" Momo asked. "Exploring Skypiea to see if Jane really grew up so badly?"

"No matter where you are..." Magure pulled a marker out of her pocket and drew three dots on Momo's face. "The left cheek is for a Sea King, a strong beast to quarrel with. The right cheek is for rain, can be a gift but can also be disastrous. And the middle dot is you...us. We all work together as a crew."

Momo couldn't help but let out a great big smile, and he nodded as he said, "And we always will!"

"In fact, I am quite curious as to what life was like for Jane." Razi added.

Eiza notice a faint shadow below them, but she believed it was just the rays of sun over her. However, it was clearly something or someone that had just approached them.

"Look Eiza!" Razi said in his very eager and cheerful voice. Eiza looked and saw a mountain with a rainbow on its peak. "Want to stop by there first?"

"Sounds good to all of us!" Eiza replied.

"Skypeia, here we come!" Magure added.

Eiza immediately jumped off the ship while it was still sailing in the air. Her arms reached out and shrouded itself in blue light before a wave of ice helped her slide down. The people of Skypeia were in awe as she descended via the wave of ice that she had created, before eventually landing on foot.

"Are you one of the great pirates from below that sail for adventure?" A Skypien asked.

"I'm just a girl who is upset her baby was a member of the Blackbeard Pirates and only learned that five years after his death."

"By the way, my name's Eiza." she added.

Soon, the boat landed on port, and the rest of the gang emerged, ready to introduce themselves to the Skypeians, who were more than happy to greet them.

"Hello. My name is Captain Razi-" Razi was halfway through greeting them before everyone quaked in fear. "Ehh...what's going on?"

"It's him!" One of the Skypeians gasped.

"He's really the one who raped Jane!"

"What?" Razi asked, blinking in confusion as some of the Skypeians glared at him. "I don't remember doing something like that, believe me!" he exclaimed.

"Then why did Jane come here warning us about you, how you kidnapped her and all six of your crew took turns taking her down to your sex dungeon to have your way with her?"

"Are you saying she said I was gay because last time I checked I'm a girl and girls don't violate girls." Eiza stated.

The Skypiens weren't in the mood to talk about jokes. They were as furious as people were, even people not against interracial relationships, of blacks and Asians settling down and having children together for instance. Just when it looked like the Skypiens would grab every member of the crew and lift them into the only sky above Heaven...one Skypien pushed to the front of the angry mob.

The young man, named Tobiax, was a tall, handsome and fairly built man with short, sandy blond hair and sparkling green eyes.

"Wait. This is Wolffang Razi and his nakama Momo and Magure. The Marines want to lynch them sure, but they helped pirates of their own and even rescued a Queen from the tyranny of the Shichibukai. I say we give them a day here before we lay a finger on them." he spoke up.

"Shut up, Tobiax." a Skypien vociferated.

Tobiax looked at all four members, but the one member who drew his attention was Fishman Karate Momo in a wheelchair. He quickly ran towards the crewmates, irking Eiza to turn her hands blue ready to freeze them.

"I'm a nurse, I just don't see anyone helping that poor man."

"Well, I happen to be a doctor myself, so I don't mind if we work together." Tobiax told her.

"Really? Sounds intriguing; I might as well take you up on that." Eiza replied, nodding her approval.

No sooner did Tobiax help were the crew taken to a home, Tobiax even pushing Momo's wheelchair.

"So what had happened that caused you to be in this state?" he asked Momo.

"Well, it's a long story. Hell, it all started when I showed up to help Eiza and Razi take out some Marines." he replied.

"They were really just cult members with bows and arrows and he stupidly fought them alone." Eiza interjected. "His paralysis is his own fault."

Momo sighed as he added, "I've got no one to blame but myself here."

"I understand you should feel sorry for yourself, but I also believe it's easier to fight alongside others instead of doing it alone." Tobiax said, setting up his tools.

"It's Wolffang Razi!" A voice thundered.

More angry Skypien's made themselves known firing arrows at the crew and Tobiax. Fortunately for them, Eiza's intuition anticipated this and she made flying canaries of ice creating shadows-in a land above the clouds there would either be too much shadows or no shadows. With her powers, she held the Skypien's in something tangible, an elongated tentacle.

"So sorry. Maybe you'll kill us next time. Continue, Tobiax."

Tobiax began to do his work, checking on and treating Momo for his wounds. "You must be a full-blooded fish man, is that right?" he asked him.

"Well my mother was a mermaid so I'm pretty close to a full blooded." Momo replied.

"Very interesting..." Tobiax said. "I was born a fairly wealthy young man, and I idolized my father, who was also a doctor here. Now I've finally followed in his footsteps, which I am quite proud of." he added.

The procedures would continue, with Tobiax often getting advice / tips from Eiza, until Momo was finally treated and patched up.

"Now, we have a building where they serve the best soup. Let me lead you there. Momo and me in front."

"That sounds very generous of you." Eiza replied, smiling along with a gracious Momo and the others. Tobiax smiled, and with that, they headed towards their destination, ready to eat together.

But this wasn't a typical restaurant. It was a recreational centre for injured people/Skypien's/exotic animals like a basilisk.

"Wow, this place looks pretty awesome!" Razi exclaimed.

"It's like a cross between a restaurant and an amusement park!" Magure added. "What's the name of this place, anyway?"

"We call it the Rising Icarus because if Icarus survived his fall from the sky he would most likely recover here. We have fishman much like you Momo who probably want to hear about your adventures."

"Or my incident?" Momo clutched his hand from suppress anger. "No thank you. I mean I'll go see them, but they don't need to know about all this."

"I see...well, make yourselves at home while we dish up some soup." Tobiax told them with a reassuring smile.

Razi and Magure sat near a big tough black Skypien with shades. He had three sharp lacerations on his right arm.

They could tell he had been in battle, as Razi briefly looked at the lacerations, before asking, "Geez, where'd you get those?"

"Couple of years ago...the last time the Strawhats came here."

"Wow...I'm pretty sure you were involved in a brutal battle." Magure replied.

"I was, and I got those wounds from a fight I participated in." the man told them.

Eiza ignored them and focused solely on what she was going to eat in here. Nothing looked filling compared to what she really wanted to have.

One of the waitresses showed up, and asked her with a cheerful voice, "Hello! What sort of soup are you having today?"

"I'll have the soup you have from an unopen can of whatever is in your fridge, extra boiling hot." Eiza said.

"Right on!" the waitress replied, before heading out to find her an unopened can of soup from the refrigerator. Once she finally located one, she took it out, and made sure it was warm enough, before finally pouring it into a big bowl.

Once she had finished, the waitress then brought the bowl of soup to Eiza, as she said, "Here you are. Enjoy!"

Eiza didn't even need to blow on the soup. She spooned enough out to drip a little back into the soup and shoved it into her mouth.

"Mmm...this is pretty good!" she exclaimed, finding the taste to be incredible. "You guys should try out the soup!" she called out to the others, causing them to notice.

"Maybe, but we sure as hell won't make it as hot as yours." Momo told her.

Eiza smiled, and resumed consuming the soup. The rest of the pirates agreed to follow suit, trying the different flavors, and were all impressed at how it tasted.

"Which kind did you get?" Razi asked.

"Chicken noodle soup. How about you?" Magure replied.

"Tomato soup." was his reply.

"I thought you would pick a more meaty soup being a wolf boy and all, but I guess talking to plants gives you a new appreciation for vegetables." Magure replied. "What's the plan for after lunch? I want to stay here and help clean up."

"Of course we'll clean up; as for our plan..." Razi said, before he began pondering.

Momo though was the one who spoke up about a plan, after Tobiax helped him eat a spoon of soup.

"Wait, I got an idea!" he exclaimed.

"What's that?" Magure asked.

"What if I ask around, Magure cleans, and Eiza and Razi explore?"


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Remember to wish your father's a happy Father's Day on Sunday like I wished my dear friend a happy birthday today. Also, did this chapter with CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

"Sounds pretty good to me." was Eiza's reply. The others instantly agreed with Momo's suggestion. "Then it's settled then; let's do this!" Momo said, sporting a weak but genuine smile.

* * *

Razi and Eiza were walking through town with Eiza protruding a small shiv from her hand that could scar bones, she used it to scare men away, mostly Razi since it was just the two of them.

"Are you trying to threaten or even intimidate me?" Razi asked.

"I'm trying my best not to, especially since we're the ones investigating." she replied.

Razi liked it when Eiza gave him an honest answer. What a crew needed was plenty of honesty. They continued to walk to where the mountains were floating in the sky, but along the way there was the horrible sight of grimaces from the unhappy Skypiens.

It seemed these people still did not welcome Razi, but he just shrugged their gazes off, focusing more on his duties with Eiza at his side.

"If I had to guess the main reason they didn't like us, it's because we smell like cannonfire residue. Marines can sniff out a pirate just from their scent alone you know, Razi." Eiza said.

"The only time someone fired a cannon at me was when I met Jane and was in Alabastia trying to confront my father." Razi replied.

"Ah, yes, such fond memories there." Eiza said, sporting a wry smile.

Of course they weren't fond memories for all of the pirates. In fact, some of them seemed to be rattled by some of the events that haunted them.

" Did you hear about the latest panda-cobra attack?" A man whispered to his friend in the Skypien bar.

"Panda-cobras? Never heard of them." Razi said, which caused the man to notice him. "Oh, you've never seen a panda-cobra before?" he asked him.

"Of course not...at least, that's what I think." Razi replied.

"They have the bodies of pandas but also the heads of cobras. We also have Centipede-Scorpions, deer-bears, and fox-corals. Where are you two off to?"

"We're heading over to the Upper Yard. We're pretty sure we might come across some challenging enemies." Razi replied.

"Okay. Hope our good friends the Birkans come see you over there."

Razi and Eiza waved goodbye to the other Skypien's.

They waved back, and Razi and Eiza, along with the rest of their group, resumed their journey. They had hoped that, true to Razi's word, they'd find some challenges along the way.

Meanwhile, Tobiax was pushing Momo while the fishman had a strange octagon made of copper on his chest.

"I wonder what this mark is on my chest?" Momo asked, looking down and detecting the octagon.

"That's an Impact Dial. It will help you experience what I want you to see. Remember, when you have the ability to soar you are never limited to your true abilities."

Tobiax pushed Momo still in his wheelchair down a slope which crashed into the water at enough speed to send him flying into it. Momo looked up at him with a genuine smile, almost as though he was truly falling for him. Tobiax, on the other hand, once had a fiancée, but she went missing, and was later found murdered. He had been slowly moving on from her, and it seemed that his heart was ready to open up again.

Momo descended into a valve of bubbles blowing by the hundreds. The Impact Dial on his chest activated sending him out of the water. His scales were soaked in water, and even with his body soaked...angel wings sprouted out of his back from his backpack. As he flew into the sky, Tobiax watched with eyes widening in surprise, and a huge smile on his face. He couldn't help but feel exhilarated by seeing Momo flying. Momo only had to use his big lungs to move his body back onto the ground.

When he finally landed, he was greeted with a very impressed Tobiax. "That was amazing! I told you that mark could do something great!" he told the fish man.

"Thank you. After losing my dorsal fins I was very depressed feeling I'll never move my arms and legs ever again. In fact...maybe it's best I stay here instead of going with Razi. He doesn't need me anymore, he needs a whole new crew, fishman excluded."

Tobiax was initially disappointed, but was happy to understand Momo's words. "Perhaps we can live together?" he asked. "I mean, we've just met some time ago, but I am more than happy for us to get to know each other." he added.

Momo did something he shouldn't do while a pirate with a high bounty. He let his guard down. Yet, when the thunderous sound of a stampede but the battle cry of an army echoed through the spring, he knew how to act.

"I would very much like that!" he exclaimed, his smile growing more bigger, before he leaned in to kiss Tobiax full on the lips. Tobiax, on the other hand, was more than willing to move from his ex-fiancee after her death.

When they disembraced, five Marines with caps on their heads and cutlasses appeared. Four were white while only one was black.

"Well, shit...look who came in to spoil the party!" Momo exclaimed.

"Fishman Karate Momo, come peacefully or we shall take you and your accomplice in!" One of the Marines exclaimed.

"What accomplice?" Momo asked.

"That Skypien man standing near you."

"Tobiax?!" Momo asked as he looked over at Tobiax. "Absolutely not! What do you want from me, anyway?!" he added to the Marines.

A loud hackle filled the area making the five marines shudder. They stepped out of the way making a path for a long hair fiery red hair man with glasses held by a chain.

"What I want is that trident only a fishman can find, but you and all your pirate chums are going to the gallows and oblivion after that."

His name was Baxton, and as he spun his chain around, Momo asked Tobiax, "You sure you can fight him?"

"I don't fight people. I'm a quaker. Sorry Momo, but this man has beaten me before I even get a chance to face him."

Momo sighed, but then again, even with his fins destroyed, he wondered if the Impact Dial could be of any use.

Meanwhile, Magure was sweeping the floors where feet were dangling from big long dining tables. After all this sweeping, I could use a nap, she thought to herself. While her hand was resting on her head, a little girl walked up to her carrying a muffin from the table. Her little wings resembled little Cupid angel of Love.

"Excuse me...can you help me?" she asked her.

"Aww, hey, little girl. Sounds you needed some help, so I'll be glad to help out." Magure replied, sporting a small smile.

The little girl suddenly latched onto Magure's leg as if she was a tree waiting to be hugged.

"Please, miss! Please play with me!" the girl exclaimed.

"Play with you? Uh, sure! I already got free time on my hands, so..." Magure replied, nodding her approval.

What she wanted to play was a game of cards. The deck was held by her stuffed animal, a winged cat doll.

Magure was quite excited as the girl took out the deck, and began sorting and what not. The girl then told her, "Let's play some solitaire!"

Magure never played solitaire before but she was ready to learn.

"So tell me, are there any rules or quirks about this sort of card game?" she asked the girl.

"The key is to create four piles of cards from the deck of cards Teddywing has."

"Uh huh...I see that...allright, let's begin." Magure said, and with that, the girl added, "By the way, my name's Kiku."

"My name is Magure, daughter of Margaret the best amazon archer."

Magure was very slow at the start of the game. She was used to sharpening her mind and weapons but not her competitive side. Magure then took out what appeared to be an ace of hearts, and looked to see if she found the matching card. She smiled a bit, before allowing Kiku her turn. Kiku was a longer thinker than Magure would have guessed. However, she put in a spades in the pile.

This game would go on, up until the last card to be put on the pile was, to Magure's surprise, Kiku.

Impressed at how the girl could actually play such a complicated card game, Magure smiled and said, "Not too shabby there, Kiku."

"Gee, thanks, Miss Magure." Kiku replied, smiling back.

Magure was thinking she was good with kids. Instead of only thinking of Kaya as a kid maybe she could have one. It wouldn't be any harder than how her mother had a child. She quivered from the rush of adrenaline from a cold breeze and weapons banging on the ground.

"What the hell was that noise?" Magure asked as she looked around. Kiku, on the other hand, suddenly flinched out of fright.

A man walked inside...one she remembered being the one who almost killed her.

"Suzuka."

"Oh, so you know my name? I'm glad you'd remember." Suzuka said with a grin.

Magure just scoffed, with Kiku standing right behind her, and it seemed her doll looked harmless in appearance. Magure would reach her how, fire a spell riddled in witchcraft to defeat him as revenge for what he did to her...

Or so she thought. Little did she know, trouble was looming overhead.

* * *

It was unfortunate for Razi and Eiza the CobraPanda wasn't such a good animal to find.

"Ugh, we've looked everywhere, and we still can't locate one of them!" Eiza exclaimed.

"Relax, there's a good chance we'll finally track down a CobraPanda." Razi reassured her.

Razi was doing all the work using his animal side to try listening for the CobraPanda. Instead, his eyes saw engravings on the wall in the form of a door.

"What is this?" he asked himself, before beginning to examine the engravings. Oddly enough, Eiza also chose to inspect them, too.

Razi immediately tried to open it like a door. To Eiza's surprise, it opened.

"So tell me, what do you think lies within this secret entrance?" Eiza asked.

"I don't know...but let's find out." Razi replied, sporting a small grin.

Razi and Eiza walked into a room with no furniture, no sky, and only white walls all around the area.

"I thought this was some kind of cave," Eiza told him. "but caves are supposed to have rocks and crystals and what not. So I guess this is more like a secret passage." she added.

"Probably." Razi replied.

Razi and Eiza kept walking in something that felt closed yet widely open, space where they can breath yet feel isolated. Finally, they saw the backs of two people: a young man and a young woman.

"Hello there. My name is Razi."

"And I'm Eiza. Look me in the eyes when you turn around to talk to me."

"Do either of you know where we are?"

There was no reply or even a stir from the two before them.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Happy Father's Day. The part of this story that would do well for Father's Day is actually in this chapter but it's so bizarre I don't think it does Father's Day justice. Although it's mostly a Hallmark holiday so at least I tried to show some spirit. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

However, both the real Razi and Eiza shuddered, believing that they could be talking to doppelgängers. Trying their best not to turn around, the real Razi replied, "Well, we ended up here after finding a secret door."

Eiza looked at her posterior. Since she was looking at essentially her own back, she might as well get used to it.

"So that's what my ass looks like. Not bad."

"Hey, that's your doppelganger you're looking at!" the not-so-real Razi told her.

"Wait, what?" Eiza asked, blinking in surprise. "Oh, shit! They are doppelgangers!" the real Razi added.

Razi raised his hand to touch the doppelgänger when the doppelgänger also raised its arm-same speed and even same arm as if he was a mirror.

"What the...?!" he asked, his eyes widening in sheer shock. "Surprised? We're both raising the same arm at the same time!" the doppelganger replied.

Razi flinched hearing his own eerie voice as did the Razi doppelgänger.

"Did I just your voice, too? Funny, it sounds exactly the same as mine." the Razi doppelganger replied.

"I didn't even speak!" Razi exclaimed.

"Is that really how cold my breath is on the back?" Eiza's doppelgänger smirked.

"Shout your mouth...me, and tell us where we are!" Eiza demanded.

"You're in the middle of a weird little dream thanks to the secretions of the CobraPanda oozing within the area." Eiza's doppelganger replied.

"How do we get out of this?!" Razi yelled.

"You killed Daniel, Jen, Lucas, and Umbrage. Getting out of here should be the least of your worries."

Eiza suddenly remembered about them looking for a CobraPanda, and she asked Razi, "Weren't we supposed to find a CobraPanda?"

Razi didn't answer. Hearing his own voice speak about his friends made him wonder if it truly was his fault they died.

"I don't know..." he said, trailing off.

The real Eiza sighed, and shook her head, believing that it was impossible to finally locate what they were looking for. But maybe, she could use her new powers to control shadows to help both of them. Calling upon her ice powers, this was enough to make the shadows of the doppelgangers flinch in terror. She could make long and big shadows scary enough to make even a Shichibukai tremble.

"Whoa! What are these things?!" Razi's doppelganger asked.

"You trying to frighten us?!" Eiza's doppelganger added.

"Frighten? No. I'm just going to devour you the way a fox devours a rabbit. After all, you have none of my skills."

The doppelgangers froze in fear, feeling the urge not to fight back. Eiza, however, just summoned several ice projectiles, landing into the doppelgangers and their shadows.

Suddenly, Razi and Eiza were out of the void and staring at the sharp fangs of a cobra panda.

"There it is...the CobraPanda!" Razi exclaimed, sporting a confident smirk. The CobraPanda just growled as a response, indicating it was tired of waiting for them to stop talking, and wanting them to fight it instead.

Razi transformed into his wold hybrid form. Beside him, Eiza created a javelin made out of ice. Solidified and could impale two heads at once.

The CobraPanda began charging towards them, holding what appeared to be a large spear in its claws. He struck Razi with the weapon, with a few hits to the torso, and while that earned him a bit of damage, he fought back by pouncing on it, and attempting to sink his fangs into its body.

He sank his teeth into the neck below the scaly head and right in the still oscillating blood in its chubby panda body. Even if Razi couldn't understand animals, he knew that hurt the wild animal.

The CobraPanda growled in pain, and though it was clutching at its wound, it attempted to attack Eiza, narrowly giving her a hit, before she took it by surprise, throwing her javelin into one of its arms.

The big hybrid sprawled backwards and let out whelps of agony from Eiza hitting its arm. Razi followed it up by using its claws to slash at it, hoping he'll give him even more damage than Eiza's weapon.

Than Razi stopped when he saw how much the beast was trying to take the spear out, didn't mean he didn't ignore it and scratch him a little for the hallucination it put him through.

He gave it a small slash, and watched as the CobraPanda slowly pulled the spear out. Blood was pouring through it, and it decided to open its out, revealing its fangs and very long reptilian tongue.

"Easy. Easy there big guy." Razi said trying to ease the reptilliane monster. "We only wanted to see you, not hurt you."

The CobraPanda suddenly blinked in surprise, and let out a small grunt of curiosity, dropping its spear.

Eiza used her powers feeling like a frigid bucket of water was splashed on her arm before the water in her hands solidified into ice, than ceased when she saw how well Razi was comforting the CobraPanda.

"I guess we came here just to finally locate one of your kind." she told the creature.

"She's right; in fact, you could probably join us as a newcomer." Razi added as he reverted back to his human form, offering some bandages to patch up the CobraPanda's wounds. This prompted the creature to start thinking it over.

But all that thinking was interrupted by a horde of Skypien's diving down to greet the two infamous pirates.

"What the...?!" Eiza asked as she turned around, as did Razi. "How the hell did you guys get in here?!" he added.

"We need your help. Something fell from the sky and crashed into our homeless shelter."

"Sounds troubling...we should get there ASAP!" Razi replied. With that, he, Eiza and the CobraPanda followed the Skypiens out of the cave, and back into Skypeia. The trio had wondered what the thing from the sky was.

That wasn't the worst thing they saw. It was more than a squashed building...it was where Magure was staying not too long ago. A part of Razi fooled himself into thinking she was alright, but than he saw it...her arrows scattered over the floor.

Razi was breathing in a raspy form of sibilance. Eiza, spent more time using her hands to freeze the fire spreading out from an explosion caused by the crash.

"I guess being the pirate king means having long lasting nakama is impossible." Eiza fiddled with her left hand against her fridgid, misty right hand. "If they were near me, I could have created a wall to shield them. But now…" all that murmuring to herself changed to a completely volatile, aggressive disorder. Her ice rose high in the air before shattering. "Why did I go with you to find a stupid hybrid?! Why didn't she come with us, that dumb bastard?! This is a complete fucking disaster!"

"Eiza!" Razi shouted trying to hush her mad deameanor.

"Oh just turn into a mongrel and lick your junk for all I care! We are standing above the clouds in the literal foliage of heaven and we lose the only member who still had any warmth left in her heart! We have nothing to do now but spend the rest of our lives being miserable!"

"Sounds to me like someone hasn't being sleeping for twenty-four hours." A person snickered.

Eiza and Razi turned their heads, Razi thought the voice was on his left side as Eiza believed the voice was on the right. Turns out, the person was travelling around somehow making a stray sound unlike anything the duo heard before.

Just then, a murky violet hole came asunder from the ground. As it slowly extended its size to allow the anomaly to surface, a fissure was slowly forming causing Skypien's to fly in the air. What was happening was something used so much energy it made an earthquake...it was wielded by the most selfish of creatures, man.

A man much older than Razi and Eiza stood out from the purple hole. He was giant, beefy, and had long, shaggy grey hair and red eyes. He was also draped in purple.

"Ah, at last we meet, young pirate-son of Levil and now this world's loathed pirate king." The man said.

"What do you mean loathed?" Razi asked.

"You don't know? You have not helped a single person since you walked the road as a pirate, king or just a simple-minded lad. I mean, maybe you helped a pirate girl keep her rank as captain, but it's by your hand she and her brother are dead. Let's not forget the young child you helped when you first met Jane. He tried to be a strong animal like you and has been so critically wounded by other people he can't even leave his house. The rest of your journey...all you do is hurt more and more people and for what, for something you didn't get to become just was made by your father, my best friend."

Eiza was so nervous she wanted to pull on her light blue hair; no one could blame Razi for having his mouth agape with eyes that had lackluster stare.

"If my dad is your friend and the only people Pirates can trust are other Pirates...you're a Shichibukai." Razi said.

"My name is Krauss. A pleasure to meet the squirt who took down the seventh Shichibukai by himself. If I didn't now have to fight you two on two, my beloved against your possible beloved...I'd be your godfather."

"What do you mean two on two?" Eiza asked.

"Ooh, I love it when people question what the big dog says. It makes the entrance of what I mean more exciting." Krauss shook his hands with glee.

Another figure would also accompany Krauss, the female marine from the base, who had been developing some metal creation powers of her own. She smirked, as she watched Razi and Krauss charging at each other, the wolf hybrid unleashing his claws and slashing at his enemy.

Krauss brought his sword, and had already deflected some of Razi's attacks, before he charged right into the wolf hybrid, giving him a couple of slashes. This was enough to send them through a dimension where everything was peaceful and no more bloodshed.

Razi chose to attack with his weapon, too, attacking him, but on the fourth slash, Krauss deflected again, and struck with his sword. Within seconds, they found themselves in yet another dimension where everything was the exact opposite.

Krauss grabbed an unsuspecting civilian, and held onto him as he aimed his sword as Razi's weakpoint. He would successfully strike him yet again with his blade, and Razi nearly hit the ground due to an almost devastating attack, before they returned to the current dimension they were in.

Razi had his toenails long and sharp enough to slit the through of a bull against the second most dangerous pirate in Skypiea. He remained undaunted by Krauss's powers and continued to smile those white teeth only a spoiled person could have.

"Well, go ahead and do it. Kill me. Eiza wanted you too-yet she's the only member of your crew still alive. If Heaven or Hell was a different universe we could go and see what all your nakama want. One adventure, five dead, and even if I'm a kindred spirit like you who lost five friends too...I'm still happy as a clam."

Razi felt all his teeth gyrating faster than a water mill, his predator senses screaming to spew all the blood from the psycho's heart and let all of Skypiea gaze at how even the strong look no different than the weak from the inside...but if all of Razi's choices were all bad...was there a chance for him to be good?

Razi prolonged his shift from werewolf into human just so he could still stand as a terrifying being in the eyes of the Shichibukai. Razi got off of him, the rest of his recovery and learning to get back on his feet again was up to him.

"I'm done. No more tricks out of you, just tell me how I can find my father." Razi demanded.

Krauss did what most people don't master very well, a reverse smile. He finally took his hand off the pommel, and when it fell the sword disappeared into a portal.

"Your father is in the same dimension I put my sword in. What I've done has saved you from your life endangering quest to find him." he said.

Razi changed from human to hybrid with his nose and mouth entirely in wolf form. "That was my only chance of bringing back my friends, you monster!" Razi shouted.

"Looks like someone never got closure as a child to deal with the death of a loved one." Krauss said nonchalantly.

What managed to keep Razi from going with what he could have done and that was rip him apart was four flowers falling stem first between them. Their buds were closed, big enough to hold a bento, and were entirely metal not real plants. Only a few seconds after they've fallen, the buds opened revealing for Den Den Mushi's: a black shell one with a white forehead, an entirely plaid looking one, one with a smile and wink of a girl hitting on you across a dinner table with red eyes, brown face, and a red shell with star looking blue spots on its shell, and a yellow one with green eyes with feminine features.

"Is this Wolffang Razi?" The plaid Mushi spoke with an all too familiar voice.

Razi was flabbergasted and still as a statue. Every word he said felt like an arrow with a tip soft but also poked in the wrong place.

"U-Umbrage?" Razi asked.

"My name is Death-01 now, Razi. I had this whole ritual and class explaining how what would have been death, was just a replacement of me who was killed if not for help."

"What Umbrage...errr...Death-01 is trying to say, Razi, is we aren't in your dimension anymore but the bodies you found weren't ours. Our roles are to keep harmony by scaring the natives of Grand Line-0.2. It should be called Grand Line 2 but since this dimension is their home and universes dwarf even planets in population, they didn't want to use whole numbers to divide them." A voice that sounded like Lucas's from the multicolour Den Den Mushi said.

"And your friends Daniel, Magure, Lucas, and Umbrage are now War-01, Famine-01, Pestilance-01, and Death-01." A voice that sounded like Daniel's from the black and white Den Den Mushi said.

"What about Jen? Did they make a fifth member...maybe Atrocity-01?" Razi asked.

"I asked them that too, Razi." A voice that sounded like Magure from the yellow Den Den Mushi said. "Turns out Jen has found a way to fake his death and even remember us despite the timeline change. You always did pick the most amazing pirates for your crew."

"Is there a way we can-"

"Times up. I think my disciples have answered all your questions." Krauss said.

The buds of the flowers sealed the Den Den Mushi back in the buds and launched in the air to the Shichibukai's satisfaction, but to Razi's heartbreak.

The sound of the flowers moving into space concealed a different noise. Razi felt a cold hand rub against his heel. He stared on the ground and saw an unconscious Eiza being dragged by Ava. It was clear Eiza didn't win her single duel against her former boss.

Ava let go and as Eiza hit the floor she wrapped her arms around Ava's. "Don't be disappointed." Ava said in a sweet but also tittering voice. "You're still the toughest pirate in my books."

"I guess we are both hard pressed with the other's skills. Mine is planning and comedy and yours is order and knowledge. Want to just escape...go to a dimension where everyone is having sex, even the dead?" Ava asked.

She smiled coyly with great amusement. "I thought you'd never ask."

Razi has never been kissed before so he didn't know why Ava and Krauss were so giddy locking lips and thrusting their bodies around in front of a Razi and above an unconscious girl. But like a fish jumping out of water, their moment was finished when Krauss's blade emerged from the ground, moved at a velocity reaching over the lovers heads, and then falling into the ground...sinking into the ground in its purple hole materialization.

What was left was a small rainbow-esque purple mirage that sprinkled over the two dangerous people kissing like teens. To add to the many questions Razi had in his head, a hole with the same nature as quicksand caused both of them to sink down.

"Tell me where to find my friends!" Razi yelled at the two, now with only their upper bodies showing.

He leaped towards them, their attention still distracted by their making out. Razi had the same feelings of this as a netorare, a lover betraying their true love by sleeping with another person only it was his nakama betraying him by following these psychos.

Razi shed a tear midair before Ava unclasped her fingers from Krauss's behind. Her powers not only controlled metal but also materialized metal body parts. The part she picked was a praying mantis leg-the thing that uncovered her veneer-and jabbed it into Razi's neck. Her blade was only suppose to shove Razi back, but a tiny slit was made in his neck, and from the slit blood dripped out.

She didn't one last thing before she couldn't move her hands anymore: give Razi the middle finger as if to say "Yeah, I can be the one who killed the king of the pirates. Bring two more for me to kill."

There were no words left for her to say even when her hair was only seen on top with her bangs already sucked into the ground. And when they were completely gone, Razi heard a cry of concern.

"Razi!" Razi couldn't speak. Even if he wasn't sure he could speak, talking now would put a strain on his trachea. His whole palm was painted red from his squirting blood. "RAZI!"

* * *

Fogginess, lethargic, migraines, something attached to his neck clotting the slit of his neck, and the inability to lift his own hands because how he usually lifts his hands felt like it was another way around. Razi was alive, drugged, operated on by well performed doctors who probably didn't have modern books or medicine, and not alone...but when he found out who the other person in the room was he wish he was alone.

He didn't see this man at first, just the suit he wore. Razi also guessed he was visited by BlackLeg Sanji if he wasn't both believed dead and had no idea who the new pirate king was. He only see clearly the chin and cheekbones of his guest and knowing who it was just showed how bad the boy's luck was; looking for someone but never finding him only to find out he didn't need him anymore so the one he was looking for came to him.

"Klauss's couldn't discourage his wife from hurting you, hands on her or not. But luckily I was here to help save you because the natives here never had someone with their throats nicked." Levil said.

Razi would turn his whole body over to avoid looking at Levil. Instead, he looked to the right, and he saw lying in her bed now clean but still scathed Eiza. He also saw Momo and Tobiax in the room, both looking distorted and unmoving. The reason for that was Levil froze them in a time-timeout.

"Although I didn't come here to convince you not to look for me, you don't know how much a father feels blessed when his children put the effort to come see them, your plan of finding me to bring back your friends wouldn't have work. Time doesn't carry the same relivance for living and deceased lifeforms. When someone dies they can't move, can't grow, and cannot rethink decisions. Sure, they are still organic and there, but still can't get up and try again."

Razi finally started to move his fingers. It wouldn't be much longer until he could open his mouth and speak. His father was watching him, probably knew his son would keep their conversation short by driving him away, but he didn't know how fast an injured wolf can recover.

"I didn't come here because of your friends, they seemed like good young boys and girls but I don't give a damn about young people as you probably already know...keep a part of them in a cold storage or under a floorboard. I came because the Marine's have perfected the ultimate technology to cause mass extinction of a race that loves sailing, hurrying to pillage, and believe because their better off with one vessel or have Devil Fruit Powers they'll be the next, well, us. The marines have fun a way to analyze every person's goals, dreams, and what their thinking so when pirates come...they'll be imprisoned or executed at the gallows. A crew of two able bodied Devil Fruit users and a paraplegic fishman wouldn't last a day when Marines find you and kill you just like they'll kill thousands of other pirates."

Razi didn't care and tried not to listen to his father. He recovered enough to make gurgling noises in his mouth. All it took was that fake bubble in his mouth to pop before he screams.

"There is hope for you though, son. Not far from here is a vast and prosperous city called Water 7. You probably know it as the city where Luffy met Franky. If you stay there,you can live a peaceful life-grow old and die like a man who spit in the face of a god and live to tell about it; I mean I'm an atheist but I wasn't there to share my beliefs so why should you care. Anywho, once a month I'll send eleven thousand Beli to your home. It will help keep you, the traitorous Marine Admiral woman, and your paraplegic friend safe. Oh…"

Levil held out his hand in the air. When he did, Kiku and Kaya appeared out of thin air. Being on drugs at the moment Razi wasn't sure if this was really happening.

"Your Amazon friend just couldn't let an innocent little winged Skypien girl did so tragically."

**Flashback**

_Debris from the ceiling started falling from the roof. One by one Skypien refugees were crushed and killed under the rocks. Suzuku, the fascist and gay Marine who didn't see Skypien's as people too, used his elongated plants to smash the rocks and walk out safely after a rock he could have stopped crushed a Skypien near him._

_Magure cradled Kiku under her. Kaya coiled around Magure's legs. The roar of the demolition and screaming hindered Magure from quick thinking. She couldn't move, but she at least stayed by Kiku's side. In a last minute ditch effort before the biggest slab of demolished rock crushed her and Kiku, her powers activated without her knowing changing into her lamia form._

_Kiku wasn't scared or saw Magure as a grotesque hybrid in that form, but as a big sister holding her in the only place she would be safe from the collapsing building...under her coils while she was crushed by the big rock._

_"I think I found my fourth horseman." A voice echoed._

_Magure in the form she took merging with Kaya and Kiku were plunged into a cascading purple tunnel beneath their bodies. It started off big enough to fit an elephant through, but after they entered it shrunk to a rabbit hole-the big rock crashed into the hole but nothing entered._

_Down in a livid nightmare or a water slide without any water-depends on which of the two who was asked, Magure or Kiku-Magure and Kaya split up as they kept sliding. Their journey through the tunnel ended like a fight, no beginning and no end. Just a snap and Magure…_

_She was surrounded by Daniel, Umbrage, and Lucas. _

_"Guys!" Magure being the clueless but sweet member tried running up to them and giving them a big hug. "Wait until Razi hears you are all fi-"_

_Many branch-esque shadows materialized from Magure's still identical shadow and forcibly sat her down. The feeling of the shadows was different than what her friends explained Umbrage's powers to be. Umbrage's shadows felt warm._

_"Sit down, please. Don't stop smiling just do not talk about what we were before. Allow us...to educate you on you."_

**Flashback End**

Kaya was curled up tail springed down ready to jump, in a playful way seeing his master alive and lick her sweaty cheeks. However, all he saw was three familiar friends all unhappy, one small winged girl kneeling down and crying, and a man...a loathsome man...a man who would hesitate to sacrifice the lives of thousands of achieve his goals.

"You're most likely thinking if I can't bring your friends back to life I can just send you back in time to stop your friends from that tragedy. Tough shit is all I can say. The only person who can travel through time is the one who ate the Time Time fruit and that is-unsurprinsgly and already lored to death-me. I can try sending you back but time is like a hurricane, there are gales inside it and constantly moving moments lived by billions of people that you'd be lost forever in, and I'm only guessing at what comes at the top of my head because billions of timelines entering your life would cause chronic pain-the day before you were born. You'll get to see the joy your mother felt knowing a healthy child would be born and gradually get to live an experience we older people never had...a happy life."

Levil stopped talking. He was starting to sniffle a little. Luckily for him exactly a second was enough for him to get a tissue...all the way from Impel Down in the new wardens officer. He wiped small tears from his eyelids. Since they were now dotted with tears he blew his nose with it. Time manipulated, he threw the tissue into the mouth of that goat the Marine's kept back when a Buster Call wiped out Nico Robin's island.

Levil only had one thing left he wanted to do. Being someone who wasn't shy about his affections he freed Momo and Tobiax from their time-timeout. Tobiax's heart was racing fast as he tried breathing but exhaled the same amount of air as a Sea King's nostrils, however, Momo was glaring at Levil feeling energy in his legs rarely felt in the legs of a paraplegic. His rage outweighed his agony.

"GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT! YOU MONSTER!"

"The only thing I hear is the huberous of you calling me a monster when my son's nakama are mostly the crazy's and the viciuous beings far from being normal. The irony is you weren't called the Monster Pirates because of me."

He wasted no more time, not like he couldn't relive the time he was in. He kissed his son on the forehead. Razi felt something that would haunt him for as long as he live. He felt a father's farewell kiss. And once Levil kissed his sons' forehead, he disappeared from sight.

Tobiax was the first one to move, and by the way things were it would take awhile for the second person to move. All Momo could do was sit in silence while Razi and Eiza both slept in their hospital beds. Tobiax helped Kiku leave the room. Kaya finally realizing his master wasn't going to come for him slithered up onto Razi's bed and slowly expanded his tail into his waiting position.

"I know I can feel something, I'm not just a toy to be handled by bigger hands." Momo lamented letting Levil go, but what could he do in his wheelchair where all he felt was agony seething like a boiling pot or fire aching to help his muscles move. "I have just been dropped by the biggest hand I've ever seen."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**It's that time again, the time to make a fresh new OC story full of characters who get stronger over the story but would still get their butts kicked with one punch from Saitama of One Punch Man. Only difference is I didn't make a fanfiction of Saitama defeating all my OC's yet so you'll have to think they have a chance with how I reveal their abilities.** **Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

Razi and Eiza were helping the villagers perform a funeral for the Skypien's crushed by the ceiling. Their village's funeral was throwing them off a waterfall into a pit of fire.

Problem was there was no fire left. Someone doused it. They were about to try to find a torch and some leaves to burn. They didn't get that chance as thunder stirred in the sky. The Lightning sounds rang through Razi's ears.

"Jane?"

He turned, and his mouth gaped upon seeing Jane standing there, a small smile appearing on her lips as she replied, "Hey, Razi. Did you miss me?"

All the Skypien's watched in disamazement as Razi the one who was believed to rape Jane stood in front of her smiling.

However, Jane's smile turned into a frown, as she added, "Because I didn't."

"Listen, I didn't rape you, alright?" Razi told her.

Jane waved her hands to calm everyone down. The only time she would make a rational decision was after she left the crew.

"You were saying?" she asked.

"I didn't rape you...I know I'm being honest, but..." Razi replied, before he let out a drawn out sigh.

Jane stared at him until he managed to just stare at her without worrying about the bogus rape charges. And then, she made lightning strike from above causing a fire to burn under the waterfall. Everyone was in awe as a fire was at last made, and nearly every person had the urge to clap their hands in appreciation.

But clapping wasn't appropriate for a mournful occasion. All the deceased Skypien's slid down the waterfall and went into the burning fire below. In fact, the clapping was very short-lived for the mourners, when the deceased fell into the fire, with everyone bearing witness. Razi, Eiza, Jane, Momo, Tobiax, Kiku, and Kaya wrestled on the sitting CobraPanda's belly...they were silent to offer their condolences.

"You sure you'd patch this guy up?" Razi asked Tobiax, referring to the CobraPanda.

"Ah, yes, I have. He's been getting used to the fact that he's got bandages on him." Tobiax replied.

"Your a pretty good doctor, but how did you and Momo escape a dozen Marines if neither of you can fight?"

"I don't know...I believe someone must have come to help us out or something." Tobiax replied.

"But how?"

"Well, they must have found Momo from his radiating pipe, I mean, it wasn't radioactive but it still emitted heat.

"Momo's pipe? Really?" Eiza asked.

"Well, yes." Tobiax said.

"I bet it perhaps helped you and Momo escape." Razi replied.

Tobiax nodded his head. He even smiled at that fond memory.

"I almost forgot to introduce myself; I'm Kiku." Kiku said, finally breaking the ice.

"Well, it's quite nice to be meeting you." Eiza told her.

Eiza shook Kiku's hand. Despite being a small little wing Skypien she had a strong grip.

"Magure told me about you people...are you famous or something?" Kiku asked.

"Famous?" Razi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's only the king of the pirates, that wheelchair fishman stabbed a Shichibukai in the eye, and I can impale a whole warship with one hand." Eiza explained.

"Wow..." Kiku said, her mouth agape in amazement.

"Sounds like you're a pretty adventurous sort of kid, aren't you?" Jane asked.

Kiku's eyes lit up seeing the famous Skypien who never let anyone tell her what to do, Jane.

"I am; thank you for asking me that!" she exclaimed, letting out a huge smile.

"Sounds like we got ourselves a welcome addition in our group." Razi replied.

"There is no more group, Razi." Momo said. He came closer to his friend with the help of Tobiax. "I'm staying in Skypiea, Kaya told me he wants to stay in Skypiea to remember his best friend Magure, and Kiku..."

"I don't know you at all, mister." She replied. "I only knew Miss Magure and she's gone."

"Her parents were among the casualties." Tobiax explained. "That's why Momo and I are going to adopt her since same sex marriage and adoption is legal in Skypiea."

"Is there anything that's not frowned upon here?" Eiza asked.

"Murder. Murder that is that doesn't have to do with religion. We also don't like people stealing our things but we have no use for a lot of our stuff so we don't mind."

"So that means breaking up is pretty much inevitable..." Momo added.

Razi sighed, before he finally said, "I'll admit, the lot of you were a pretty good circle of friends. It's a shame all of us won't be adventuring together in the same group."

"You dip shit's can still be a circle of friends." Jane said with her arms folded. "Skypiea and Water 7 aren't too far away from each other. We can visit from time to time. I'll stay here and work in the same office Levil did. Some people need their mail and they'll get to sample my cooking."

"And that pretty much leaves me and Razi." Eiza said.

Razi was a little down in the dump, but he remembered the hard work his crew made for him and sometimes making things difficult for yourself was making things better for the ones he cares about.

"The Golden Yumi requires at least three crewmates to operate. I think I'll need a different ship now."

"Yeah...it's a real damn shame. I wonder what sort of ship we'd be looking for...unless we find and recruit someone new." Eiza said. The CobraPanda suddenly growled, indicating it wanted to come along with both of them.

"Sorry, CobraPanda. But your too big for the Golden Yumi." Eiza said. "When we come back to see these guys of course we'll remember to see you. For now...I guess it's up to me to help Razi get to Water 7 since I can freeze water."

The CobraPanda grumbled in disappointment, though it also nodded in agreement after that.

"Sounds good." Razi said, before looking at the others and adding, "Thanks for the memories you guys, regardless if they were good or bad for any of you."

"I'll admit you could be wacky, ignorant, and give us scars and PTSD with the adventures we've been through, Razi, but we were all glad to be your nakama." Momo said.

"Even me." Jane smiled.

Razi and Eiza turned around and started dashing through the forest to fall off the floating island. They would then leave Skypeia, now looking for their next destination to reach, whether by walking or perhaps by boat. Momo, Tobiax, Jane, and Kiku waved goodbye to the most adventurous spirits to ever visit since the Strawhat's.

Razi jumped first off the floating island.

Along with Razi, Eiza also waved goodbye to them, before she jumped off Skypeia, following Razi's lead.

Razi could feel his body grow to humongous size as he became a giant wolf midair. Eiza, slowing down her fall with ice shredding through her hands, used her shadow powers to wrap a long arm around Razi's belly. Once they finally landed on the ground, they got up, and began taking a good look around as they checked their surroundings.

Once they finally landed on the ground - Razi's body landing on the ice floor without even a crack in his tendons, and Eiza landing gracefully as if she was a ballet dancer, something that would only appeal to her if she could freeze the whole orchestra after playing their music.

She sprayed ice in the ocean turning it into a solid surface, just as they landed, and she knew Razi could step all over this ground.

"What would you do without me?"

* * *

**_20 Years Later..._**

* * *

That same line twenty years ago was said by an eighteen year old girl to her twenty year old friend. She had long, silver hair in a ponytail, and deep blue eyes, and was fairly curvaceous. Her friend, on the other hand, was dark-skinned, with short purple hair, green eyes, and often wearing an orange fedora hat. Right now, a large man with no hair and a crooked nose was carrying them to a holding. It wasn't a legal prison, but more like a black market prison where they could be both sold.

"I'll tell you what I would do, Charlotte," the boy with the violet hair said. "I would sneak into the restaurant and find that man without being caught, Dagger Whirlwind."

"It's not my fault. I was born without any cheekbones. I also have a very narrow mouth; when I eat cheese buns I overeat and have to swallow water to swallow them down." Charlotte said.

They were both disappointed in the other and trapped by the man's two arms around their waists.

"Can you pull down your pants?" she asked.

"I can only move my mouth not my hands." he replied.

"Good. In front of you is my butt in your face, I need you to use your teeth to pull down my pants."

"..."

"It's a matter of life or imprisonment, Hardy, so stop being a baby and pull down my pants." she said.

Hardy opened his mouth like a cat and chewed on her right jean pocket like a rat. For once he was glad Charlotte didn't wear a belt or this wouldn't work. Her pants were pulled down, and in his face was the sight of her yellow underwear, light color and speckled with white dots.

"Ready? And...now!"

She acted fast using her right foot to kick her pants off her legs and into the man's mouth. It was the distraction she needed to wriggle her arms out of his squeezing as did her friend. Once she was falling out, she roundhoused him in his bad nose.

They were free, but the man was still holding onto her jeans so her underwear was showing in the streets.

"Hardy, hand me your hat. I'm going to pull out something I need." Charlotte said.

Hardy gulped. "What...what for?" he asked.

Charlotte already rummaged her hand into the fedora trying to pull something out. The hat wasn't magic but it did have special powers; the power to give someone what they need.

She pulled out...a white place with a pink flower painted on it.

"Is that a plate? Where on earth did you find that thing?" Hardy asked her.

"Your hat. Remember when I gave it to you I said it gives you what you really need."

"Why did my hat make you take out a plate?!" Hardy shouted.

The bald man charged making very big sound effects like an angry bull. Charlotte turned her plate around looking at the circular bottom with a small chip in the circle.

"So I can do this…"

Charlotte threw the plate right in the man's face. He could feel the same pain of his face being cut open, wouldn't make much difference if the plate was a chakram or not. Soon the area was awash with broken plate shards, and one of them just scattered into a passerby holding a vintage bottle of wine. His bottle shattered in his hand! He felt three things: fear of being cut by a glass shard, cold moisture of what would've been a good bottle of wine now just sweaty purplely liquid, and anger towards the person who broke something that cost 21000 Beli.

He turned to Charlotte, standing over the fat man retrieving her jeans while Hardy took a map from his back pocket, and tried glaring at her but he was flustered with a young eighteen year old girl with her underwear showing.

Charlotte looked at him and came up with the only solution to something that was her fault.

"My friend down here says that is on him." Charlotte reached for the large man's wallet; no hands needed to grab it only her big fluffy silver tail with a streak of white in it. She fringed it with her tail his wallet, which he caught with his mouth like a dog, and then she used her feet to make the man who was now her puppet talk. "Sorry. Sometimes my fat head is just too hard. Buy yourself a whole family dinner, on me."


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Some of you might not like how the story went from a boy with only the power to turn into a wolf became King of the Pirates in less than one hundred chapters, maybe some of you don't like the next generation I set up. Well all is well in my part because when I started writing this new characters story I felt adrenaline for inspiration. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

Andy Honchio was someone who looked like a rich gentleman but was really a black market hunter also known as a human capturer. He had a beard of two thin black mustaches circling around his mouth and a small speckle of black on his chin. His hair was short and black, perfectly slicked back, and had eyes the color of emerald green.

"Gentlemen," he said. "By now Louie has undoubtedly taken those two pests to our prison, which means in an hour we shall be much richer men. Each of us will be paid more than a bakers monthly earnings before taxes. Time to celebrate with night to numb our minds...and our privates."

Andy's attention was on the waitress with the pigtails. She was quite busty and pretty, and her hair was a bright shade of blue, while her eyes were also the same color.

The door creaked open allowing the waitress to have a break from Andy's lecherous gaze and his sexual harassment. Her new customer was a man with a sun hat wearing a brown poncho and having a toothpick in his mouth.

The waitress rushed to get to him like she was the wind. When she reached him her smile couldn't be more brighter.

"Hi. Seat for one or are more coming to meet you?" She asked.

The person wearing the poncho shook their head and then pointed at Andy. She looked at the table, stuck her tongue out with her face turning sickishly green, and then took a deep breath to answer in a way that didn't sound like a girl rejecting a boy with a crush on her.

"So be it. If he doesn't want you there, please sit on a bar chair for me, okay hon?"

The figure strided towards Andy, every step making an echoing sound from the sound of their shoes. Andy was staring but mostly pondering who this person was. Their hair on the nape hard to see with the hat looked familiar, but that person didn't have any cheekbones while the person before him had pudgy cheeks.

A man wearing a light blue undershirt with his gray suit was in front of him eating a bowl of mahi fish (yes the Grand Line do have Hawaiian fish) and rice. The poncho person's hand was on the back of another seat with another hand on the back of the other guy's seat. With speed fast but not unnoticeable, both chairs positions were changed; the poncho guy sitting around Andy's table and the fish-hungry man sitting at a table without anyone.

The action wasn't taken lightly by everyone at the table. All six of them including Andy reached their their guns behind their ironed undershirts covered by their business suits, but held off when the poncho person slammed a bag full of 1000 Beli bills all in wads.

"Let's start talking." Judging from their voice, Andy guessed the person under the hat was female.

"I'm listening." Andy replied, but his right eye's only attention was on the waitress.

"I heard you were an elite black market hunter organization. I want in, but I don't know where your located. Would one million Beli be enough for you to tell me?"

Andy and the five others spent the next few moments staring at him with their mouths open and breath coming out like someone who eats food recently in the oven. He thought they were contemplating, hsconf* conflicting morals with a code of theirs, but they just started laughing irritating the waitress trying to carry a pitcher of coffee to a table.

"You can't buy your way into this organization, you need to have at least five prisoners to give us. And this isn't how you ask us, you check our fliers. Our location is all over the papers."

Andy had one last howl of laughter before he was interrupting by a laugh...a close range female laugh his ears would never forget because he heard it all the time before rejection.

"You dumbasses actually don't keep your organization hidden. I wonder why you haven't been captured already."

The hat was finally lifted up by using the momentum of standing up. Andy saw the same eyes the girl with no cheekbones, Charlotte as it was mentioned, had. Before anyone could say anything, she headbutted one man in the head. Her hat came off after that showing her long silver hair.

"What the?!" Was all Andy could say. Seeing the waitress holding her laughter off from her hand clasped around her mouth made him nervous.

Something gooey and stretchy detached from Charlotte's face showing her zero perfect cheekbone face. Her poncho also dissolved into a blob revealing her shirt and jeans-good thing she put those jeans on before putting on the poncho or a dozen confused people would be flustered, the waitress excited because she was actually gay. That blob had one fingerless elongated arm holding the bag of money. The bag shredded in size revealing the same orange fedora Hardy wears with the inside turning into the same glass shards from the bottle and broken plate Charlotte made.

After the reveal was a big blob holding Hardy's hat, a smack on the midsection and Hardy popped in for the blob. His free hand reached into the hat where he pulled out a small mirror.

He was ecstatic making a face of his chin tilting up and his cheeks looking like gills for a moment. "I'm human again! Hooray!"

Now that Charlotte's disguise was finished, all men really took out their guns this time and pointed at the duo. Charlotte, unafraid and even smiling eagerly, put on a pair of red gloves from her jeans.

The men cocked their fingers around the triggers, but the table was sent flying up and in their way. Their bullets shot the table puncturing holes in the wood. The cook, the waitress, the manager and another waitress, both running out of the office, all got to see the gun holes in the table. Everyone there felt like they were punched so hard, a cyst in them exploded.

"That table cost thirty thousand Beli you animals!" the boss shouted.

"Bill me. Better yet, bill the girl with the silver hair. Her life isn't worth any Belis but she put the table in our way!" Andy screamed loudly since they were still firing their 15 rpm guns.

The table shattered on the floor. None of them knew what caused that table to fly since neither the cocky girl or the blob boy touched the table with their hands, but the waitress, thinking she might be bisexual instead of a lesbian, seeing five men with perspiration all over their faces...she saw what looked like a wolf tail uppercut the table.

"Hi." a small squeaky voice said. One of the gunmen closest to the sound turned left and right trying to spot whoever made that nose. He heard a squeaking sound similar to the same noise he heard on the ground. He looked down and saw...a very peculiar mouse. A mouse looking at him and laughing. "Teehee."

That little mouse started to expand into a pink blob the size of a single strip of bubblegum. Before the gunmen knew it, he was hit in the knackers by a head and was still being pressing in his privates as the neck below the head kept growing. It took until his back hit the ceiling-a jolt of pain in his spine and male sex organs-did the thing that hit him turn out to be a giraffe...wearing an orange fedora.

The remaining four men were grouping around the broken table. Charlotte emerged from behind, hands at her hips and tail both surprising and daunting the men, except Andy who withdrawn from the group.

All three men were punched in a peppering pummel of fists. Her punches hit their collarbones, thighbone, bellybuttons, and broad shoulders under those suits. She soon stopped and held up her hands. Three times she swished her hands down and raised them up as if they were karate students bowing to their defeated opponents. On the first "bow" all three men collapsed.

"You're a vicious martial arts master, Dagger Whirlwind." Hardy said.

"True, true. Now should we leave the leader alone for his cowardice in front of his men or hunt him down and make him feel pain…" Charlotte tried to think of a good example of someone feeling pain. She heard a groan, refocused her attention, and saw the man who was in worse condition than the other four. "Well, that guy."

The man eating fish from a bowl tried using the element of surprise from Charlotte looking at the kitchen. He had gold once brass knuckles on his arm, strong enough to crack open Charlotte's head just from hitting the back of her skull. He raised his hand posing to strike. He felt a brush on his nose with hair that reminded him of the tuft of a buffalo's head. Then, he was tripped by that same thing that brushed his nose, Charlotte's tail. Suddenly, she spun around and jumped at the height of his legs while he was falling. Once he hit the ground her legs dived into his belly. Being crushed by her legs was the same as being crushed by a bear's paw.

"Impressive." A snide voice remarked on Charlotte's move. Charlotte turned ninety degrees seeing but acting unsurprised to Andy holding a 9mm gun at the base of Hardy's skull. "Now why don't you be a good girl, pay for the damages you caused to the nice restaurant and waitresses-"

"Ewww!" The only two waitresses hollered in unison.

"And come with me to the black market. A hybrid like you will sell fast and easy. Not even the Marines would see selling you as a gruesome act." Andy finished.

Charlotte avoided Andy's attention and focused on the ground. A bread roll was on the ground near the last defeated goon by her own hands. Being a girl who had no diet or problems with what she eats, she picked up the bread roll, breathed on it a little, and then took a bite of it.

"Hardy, you have permission to turn into Uncle Momo's greatest protector." She said, then chewed a little.

Andy didn't have time to pull the trigger before Hardy's head took on a serpentine shape. His body also grew fatter and more blobby on the ground. All of the customers who still stayed in the restaurant trembled and shivered so much it felt like being trapped in a closet with their worst fears. Hardy now wasn't a human or a creature that belonged in nature, but a three hundred and twenty five pound being that could accomplish so much, but didn't have the levelheadedness Hardy did.

Andy was in the coils of a CobraPanda's head, it's two sharp fangs and talon shaped irises with yellow eyeballs was in his face.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**I've recently been able to post chapters quickly but this time I'm going to have to take a break and focus on my other fandoms. Thank you and Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

Charlotte approached the manager of the restaurant while Hardy intimidated and hissed at Andy. She reached for his fedora hat before snatching it from his reptile forehead. When she finally reached the managed she chewed a few more times and swallowed. She was ready to negotiate.

"I'll admit I destroyed that table of yours with how I put it in the way of the gunfire, and for that I'll pay for the table. What I won't pay for is all the other stuff broken or contaminated around here, the ones at fault for that are the unconscious men you see around my CobraPanda friend who wants nothing more than to be his natural skin as much as possible and have the utmost respect from people, but for now I'm just the girl who talks to him even when he's a untasty and unhuggable blob."

She reached into her but also Hardy's fedora hat to get what she _needs_ from it. The manager was very excited. He was going to receive thirty thousand Beli faster than even the mayor receives that much money-but his greed and avarice was rewarded with Charlotte picking out a brown Den Den Mushi with a slit across its left side.

Charlotte put her eyes against the slit, seemingly fiddling with the snails underbelly, and started talking. "Hello Dad. I'm going to need you to send thirty thousand Beli to that restaurant with the waitresses who have slight misandry towards people of your gender, but not the mother gender. Also, please call Mom and ask her if she can fill my water bowl when I get home. Eating bread off the ground has made me thirsty. Before I owed this much I swear I was trying to do the right thing, and if you have to tell Mom let her know after I complete my rescue mission...people might actually reward us with money. Love you...love-"

"YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR TWO MINUTE MESSAGE." The Den Den Mushi cut her off with its robotic noise. "THANK YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY."

The manager looked at Charlotte dumbfounded, the waitress next to him had her hands on her hips in rage, and the Den Den Mushi turned its head to Charlotte.

"Kid, if you want my advice...it was good of you to tell them, but next time tell them the bad thing you did first and they'll come over faster." said the Den Den Mushi.

Charlotte dropped the Den Den Mushi into the fedora hat. "This is what happens when a Den Den Mushi mates with a parrot." She grumbled. She looked at the silly face the manager was making and raised an eyebrow before tweaking her mouth. "What? I'm eighteen, you think I have that kind of money? Money just isn't something you pull out of a hat...or in my case a djinn who ate a Devil Fruit trapping it in hat form. It's earned from hard work."

CobraPanda-Hardy pushed Andy out with his big furry sumo gut nudging him over and over again as well his fork tongue almost touching the nape of his neck. They left, and Charlotte prepared to leave also. She almost made it out of the door until she turned around to act like a smartass.

"If you want to wake your customers up, make them ride in that seahorse slide with a hot cup of tea in their hands. It burns well and works better than waterboarding."

Andy was grateful of two things. The boy who could turn into a CobraPanda was now back to his dark skinned teenage self. He was alive and no longer a prisoner of the rambunctious teenagers / young adults.

"So, asshole, where are these posters of your black market slavery den?" Charlotte asked.

"There is none." Andy growled. "Me and my men are kidnappers, not morons. I only wanted you to search Water 7 for nonexistent posters so me and my men could eat in leisure, leave before you got back, and maybe rob you of just one of that large wad of Beli."

"I know that, but will your higher ups believe what you say was a lie." Charlotte said sounding very devious.

"What are you talking about, weird girl?"

Charlotte looked at Hardy and nodded. He nodded back. His face turned into what could only be described as a pink turd. In little to no time that turd transformed into parrot's face. What he did as a parrot was mimic words the kidnapper spoke to Charlotte when she had a sunhat and poncho on.

"** If you want to find our location, all you need to do is find the posters for us all over Water 7."**

Andy took some time trying to process these bizarre powers the boy with the different skin had. To no surprise to Charlotte or Hardy, he laughed like a hyena at them. So much laughing without breathing the duo were sure he was going to faint.

"I'm a one hundred percent accomplisher of my duty and loyal member to this black market job. Actually, ninety-nine percent. One of the girls we tried to kidnap was a member of the new generation of Franky members. We gave her a black eye but she got away. And there's no posters of this-"

Charlotte shoved a black poster with white penmanship right into Andy's face. He let out muffled words of what would have been his completed sentence. Hardy had to give Andy some space from Charlotte so he could reach what she shoved at him.

"Read it." Hardy told him.

There was a picture of three stick figure girls crying in prison cells while a stick figure male with a suit like Andy-maybe was inspired by Andy himself-was counting money in his hands. Andy read what was on the paper as he felt all his information flushed down a theoretical drain.

"This is the location of the entrance to the black market organization, explains how it is underground, and even who to talk to if you want a job." Andy said stress in his shaky, sweaty palms and how he was close to ripping the poster apart.

"Yup." Charlotte replied. "We knew where you've been hiding all along just haven't had one key item to bringing them down: a stressed person behind the kidnapping who we could blame for their organization being blown away. Also, we wanted to ask why the organization was underground?"

"Because of the tsunamis of course." Andy immediately went from Plan A of interrogation, though not answering any questions to Plan Z trying to scrounge a plea deal. "I'll do anything, just don't implicate me in this black market organization."

"The only thing I want is for you to spend your life in a prison cell as bad as the ones you put innocent girls and boys in." Charlotte answered.

"There's absolutely no way I'm gonna rot in there!" Andy exclaimed.

"Think about what your prison should be while my friend blinds you with a blob...he spits in your eyes. Hardy, do the gross thing from your untouchable body."

Hardy nodded, before he coughed up what appeared to be liquid from his...throat. Once he had enough, he spat it out, and it landed right into Andy's eyes.

Andy screamed at the agonizing feeling of his eyesight being blocked. What's worse was how the two teenagers walked in the direction of the black market to get away from him.

"Come back, you insolent penis!" he yelled as the duo left him.

On their way to the black market, they saw an overweight fascist play director taking in credit for his play. That person was of course Rony Deber. Twenty years has not aged that sound recorder well, but at least he was getting attention.

The two actors present on the stage were a lanky man with short brown hair, and a woman with long, curly black hair, and were about to perform.

"Okay, okay...lights, camera, action!" Rony exclaimed.

Hardy heard that sound and was interested in watching them act. Charlotte on the other hand only wanted to find the entrance, the one with three minions standing guard underground.

"Why is it that you're not good enough for me? All you care about is your wealth and how filthy rich you are!" the woman asked the man in an angry voice.

Charlotte noticed Hardy watching and told him, "We need to get moving, no time for gawking."

Hardy actually knew that actress. Her name is Salone Heartff. She was known for always playing the strong willed female love interest in stage, but in real life all he did time was spent on her family not on a tedious act such as finding a relationship.

The duo reached the entrance, and the three men inside were speaking unsubtle.

"So I'm thinking we set up some bombs just below the entrance to scare away passerbys or get some real attention to this black market." Charlotte suggested.

"Allright, sounds like a plan." Hardy replied, before he began to open his mouth. Within seconds, blobs that resembled gumballs started shooting out, and they would also swiftly hit the walls.

Charlotte carried on their plan by grabbing the fedora hat. She took a deep breath before tearing it a little.

"Forgive me, hat. I'll use the tailoring skills Uncle Momo taught me to stitch you later."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

**I'm back with updating this story. I just been watching the first episode of different anime and reading more so I could get some inspiration for editing. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X_X

Hardy looked at Charlotte with inquisitive eyes, wondering as what she'd do with the piece of his hat.

She squeezed tightly on it and popped out a few small bombs on the gum. After a dozen squeezes, she pulled out a piece of thread and needle and sewed the rip in the hat.

Once she sewed the hat back together, she also took out a detonator, and with that began to time the bombs.

"What?!" Hardy yelled. "I thought the plan was just to use those bombs to scare away people and get the attention of the authorities?!"

"Oh, we are getting people's attention alright. Now...let's see what the hat thinks we should do."

Charlotte reached inside the hat, a devilish smirk on her face, and she pulled out a chain with a choker collar attached to it.

"I guess it wants me to pretend to be a prisoner. Quick, transform into that guy Andy."

Hardy nodded, before he began shape-shifting into Andy. Once it was complete, Charlotte was ready to continue the plan.

Three men Charlotte mentioned before were waiting at the entrance when Hardy walked in pulling Charlotte by a chain. She kept her head down to look miserable. No sooner did they walk in did the three men notice them.

"Huh? What the hell is Andy doin' here?" one of them asked.

"And why did he bring this clown?" another asked.

"Greetings...fellow black market guys. This here is a nice six out of ten in people girl who is now a sled here. I'm lucky to get down here all things considered. There's bombs set up at the entrance.

"Bombs? How did they get set up?!" The third of the trio asked. The others were just as baffled as him.

"I'm guessing it had something to do with this vigilante Dagger Whirlwind everyone keeps crowing about. She may be tough stuff, but she's no match for this."

Hardy pretending to be Andy pretended to be thrusting into a girl as the three other men just felt the endorphin rush of that happening.

"Hey, mind if we join in?" one of them asked. "Yeah, I like that chick!" another added.

"None of your beeswax, boys." Andy - Hardy in disguise - replied.

"Oh, please excuse me because I'm just a slave girl, but didn't the masculine Andy say there was a bomb at the entrance." Charlotte said in her squeaky little girl voice. She was trying to be innocent and seductive but her voice fell on deaf ears.

"A bomb?! Oh crap, we didn't realize-" one of the trio asked, but suddenly, they heard the sound of explosions.

That sounded like a lot of damage and maybe casualties. Why the hat let them pull those dangerous items out was beyond them.

Hardy and Charlotte were able to narrowly avoided getting bombed to bits, and Charlotte looked over at him and grinned. "Sounds like part of the plan is completed." she told him.

Hardy was about to tell her it was a stupid plan...he froze up before he could. Hardy was told in a situation of conflict you could do three things: freezes up, run away, or fight them. Charlotte was without a doubt a girl who would fight in that situation while Hardy froze up. What made him freeze up was a garbage smelling fragrance.

"Sheesh...what kind of smell is that?!" he asked in disgust. "What smell?" Charlotte replied, until she too noticed the scent.

The smell was coming from behind the door. Hardy didn't freeze at the miasma this time. He walked to the door, but he heard Charlotte can her tone of voice to say her only warning.

"I wouldn't go through that door. I don't think your ready to see what's behind there."

Hardy gulped before opening the door. What he saw was...corpses. Corpses, body parts, dried blood, goo from eviscerated bodies, and saws.

He instantly backed away, and ran back over to Charlotte, who told him, "Told you so."

"Jeez...who are these people? And how did they all end up here for?" Hardy asked.

"They were slaves. People kidnapped don't always have happy endings, sometimes they make the wrong move and their flayed by over tyrannical men. But luckily for us, this door only has to be opened one more time. It will be for the families to see their children and give them a proper funeral."

Charlotte took off her shirt and pants before Hardy's eyes. All that she left on was her yellow bra and underwear. Next she laid down on the ground and started raising her feet in the air.

"Clothes during exercise makes my muscles feel numb so I need to be able to stretch without any of it on."

"Um...okay." Hardy replied, looking as though he might blush upon noticing her in her underwear. "And don't be staring at me too much, alright?" Charlotte also asked him.

Hardy nodded before turning around. He could still feel her gaze on the back of his neck so he turned his head into a flat pink pancake roll.

Charlotte sighed as she would finally relax her muscles and the rest of her body. Once she was finished, she'd get up and put her clothes back. "Much better..." she said to herself.

She started sprinting through the hall. One of the men opened a door and walked out, he was greeted with a kick to the cheek.

"What the...?! Who's there?!" another man asked. "Shut it." Charlotte simply told him, before he attempted to attack her by pulling out his rapier.

He plunged his rapier in hard at first, but Charlotte flicked it away with two fingers. His next maneuver was a flurry of fast plunges. Charlotte miraculously dodged all of them, and toyed with the man pulling on her bra straps out of her shirt.

She slammed an elbow into his stomach, causing him to clutch at it in pain, before she gave him a series of quick kicks. These hits were quite strong enough for him to land on the ground.

She pinched his neck while he was on the ground. If no one woke up after feeling one of their seven cervical bones being pinched, they were either dead or unconscious. She didn't have time to tell which one, him not waking up after a pinch, she heard roars intensifying down the hall.

"Where's that noise coming from?" Hardy asked her, as he was quick enough to detect the sound. Charlotte also noticed the roaring, and replied, "Let's take a look and see what we got."

Charlotte moved three steps ahead for every one step Hardy made. She then found herself face to face with the strange creature emitting the roaring sounds. It was a Siamese creature, two pupils in both heads, green skin, muscle white shirt, large brown trousers, and light grey after shave over its mouth. Looked more like a deadbeat dad, but something told Charlotte it was the boss.

"What's a numbskull like you doing here?!" he asked her, sporting a rather angry snarl.

"I may not be a knight and I may not be a man, but I will break you down like my mother breaks men in her construction job if you don't let all the girls you kidnapped go." Charlotte answered.

"Oh, should I? Fat chance I'm gonna do that; in fact, when I'm done dealing with you, you're gonna join them soon!" the boss replied.

"Try and break me; I know you won't." Charlotte replied.

Both heads roared before the figure raised his arms and slammed them like a ticked off ape. Charlotte did a front flip on his right fist and a backflip off him.

She would then kick him in the torso a few times, before following it up with an uppercut on one of their heads.

"All these punches make me feel invigorated!" Charlotte exclaimed.

She then used her fists to clobber the boss some more, giving him more damage until two more enemies entered the room. "Boss, what's happening?!" one of the two henchmen asked.

"Some girl who thinks she's all that is trying to take our slaves away. I was going to keep her as a slave, but now I can't allow her to breath." The boss replied.

"Catch me if you can." She replied.

Charlotte unleashed a shrilling howl like the roar of wolf. After that inhuman sound echoed through the room, her hands weighed down on the ground and her legs slide behind her hands. Her nose started to grow as her teeth morphed into fangs. Charlotte was turning into a wolf.

The trio of slavers were instantly shocked as Charlotte's transformation was soon finished, and now in her new form, she brandished her claws, and charged right for them. She focused on one of the two underlings, clawing at him in the face, as well as attempting to bite his head off.

"Boss! Boss help me!" He cried in pain and fear.

"I'll help you out...by giving all of you sixty seconds before my secret weapon shows up."

The boss fled the room.

"So you wanna play mind games, huh?" he asked her in a quiet voice, before he took out a rather large weapon.

"Come and get me!" he called out. Charlotte couldn't speak as a wolf. She could, however, growl and swish her tail in the injured minion's face.

The boss roared with both his heads and swung his flail.

Charlotte narrowly dodged a swing from the flail, and struck him with her claws. This did little to stop him, though, as he swung his weapon a second time, which was able to give her quite the hit.

It felt like her back was being pierced and her balls were being crushed, but she didn't have balls so it was her privates feeling inflamed by the pain. As she scrambled to get back up, Hardy bore witness to the fight, and seemed as though that he wanted in on the fight too, fighting alongside Charlotte.

Then he saw Charlotte run through his open legs and delivered a back kick into the side of his legs like a donkey.

The boss growled as he was hit, until Hardy called out to Charlotte, "Mind if I help out?"

Charlotte looked over at him and nodded in agreement, and Hardy couldn't help but grin as he began to prepare his attack on the remaining underling.

He morphed what appeared to be a large sledgehammer, and the underling was attempting to attack him with his sword. Hardy was able to easily knock him back, however, causing him to crash into the wall. Charlotte shook her wolf head. Hardy tried so hard to help but he was always so clumsy.

"Don't worry, I'm getting the hang of it!" Hardy reassured her.

Charlotte growled, indicating 'Fine.', and with that, they were both up against the boss, who was also ready to clean house.

"Two against one, and they say me 'a miserable woman abductor born from a third rate hall of violence school' is a cheat." The boss said before he swung his flail.

Hardy took the hit, but Charlotte was able to dodge it almost quickly. She then lunged towards him, jumping out and clawing one of his heads's eyes out.

"Headbutt Scissor!" The heads shouted in unison.

They pulled their heads back for A headbutt, but their heads leaned to the right before attempting to collide in the thing between them, Charlotte.

She had to think fast, and chose to evade the incoming attack, before she snuck up from behind them. Charlotte then sunk her fangs into one of his necks, and she dug them so deep, it took a chunk of skin off of him.

Charlotte had a minute of him crying in agony before her transformation. She didn't know what hurt first her transformation into a human girl or skin ripped from the twin heads neck. While her arms were long and her nose was in a triangular position, she cocked her fist and hit the right head.

The boss took the hit very hard, and fell to the ground on his back. With one of his necks almost severed, he was pretty much done for thanks to Charlotte's efforts.

"Don't worry about a thing." Charlotte told him. "Once all the girls are free, I'll have my mom take you in for kidnapping after they put you in a hospital bed."

Charlotte left the room, Hardy jumping after her with his feet completely gummy.

"Have you come to free us?" she asked them.

"Why, yes, I have; and so is my friend here." Charlotte replied. Hardy nodded and waved hello, to which the woman said, "Thank you..."

She sported a very happy smile as she escorted Charlotte and Hardy to the rest of the slaves. There, they began freeing each and every single one of them.

X_X_X_X_X

No sooner did they leave, a navy blue haired woman descended. The navy blue haired girl sauntered up to the two headed man. She put two fingers together and pressed them against his arm. Slowly, the two-headed bosses skin colored changed from green to white. He went from white skin to an inky shadowy outline outline.

"Fiction becomes more fleshed out and turns into it's original creation, typed words."

She was cold as the skin of a fishman.

The woman was relieved to make a minor antagonist in a world of fiction not even inspired by the same minds of Luffy's adventure was erased from the world. Now, she left the room...leaving the protagonist of the next generation, Charlotte, to free girls.

X_X_X_X_X

Charlotte (who spoke to the woman once she reverted back to her human form) looked over at the woman and asked, "You appear to be a fish-woman, I presume? Or maybe half-human half-fish?"

"Thank you, miss!" "We can never be any more grateful!"

The girls were overjoyed as they thanked her and her friend as they finally exited the hideout. From there, both Charlotte and Hardy let the girls return to their homes.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

**Well I'm happy to post this chapter but I'm sad I can't get a new video game released one week from now. Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me on this chapter. **

X_X_X_X_X

Everything felt good, until the path to the front entrance was encased in ice and shattered by a strong weapon. Eiza walked in both proud and enraged of her daughter not even biologically related.

Eiza's hair was now shorter, and while she had grown older, she was still quite attractive. "Charlotte...as much as I want to congratulate you, I am very angry." she told her.

"Mom?! How did you get here?!" Charlotte asked.

"You called your father telling him you needed thirty thousand beli. Either you want to waste your whole year maybe even two years of allowance on shopping or you were in a fight for something reckless. I was right about one of those things, so here I am telling you to come home and stay at home for a whole week because you are GROUNDED...young lady."

Charlotte sighed, and told Hardy, "Sorry, but I'm in serious trouble."

Hardy nodded, before returning to his human form. "And who's this shapeshifter that's following you all the time?" Eiza asked.

"He's Hardy, and he happens to be a friend of mine." Charlotte replied.

"Oh right. He's that kid who reminds me of your dear missing Uncle Jen when he took over the body of a...well, all I can say is drunkard and colored afro hair. Thank you for helping my daughter, but room home now before I make you turn into a frozen statue."

"Okay..." Hardy replied, before he told Charlotte, "See you later!" and then took off. This left her with Eiza, and the two would return home safe and sound.

X_X_X_X_X

The play was over and the actors were playing their favorite game...roulette. A game where they gambled on who would be shot first with a gun pressed against their heads.

"Whoever dies, whoever lives, that's the name of the game!" a female announcer in gawdy clothes exclaimed.

The two actors that Charlotte and Hardy briefly bore witness to, were also in the group, getting ready for the game. "May the best man win." the actor, Johnny, told her.

The actress, Isabel, rolled her eyes, and replied, "Or perhaps the best woman."

Little did they realize, both the guns had no empty slots for the bullets. One pull and they would die. What prevented this was the blue haired girl from the bosses hideout. She had an invisible blue line in front of her and was writing in a few words involving Johnny and his gun.

Johnny pressed the gun...nothing happened. Other than feeling like a complete idiot for trying the game, he realized something supernatural was helping him as when he opened the chamber...six bullets were still inside.

As he checked the pistol, the sound of footsteps could be heard by most of the people. They actually belonged to that of a male merchant wearing rather civilized clothing, and as he arrived at the scene, he suddenly heard something in his head.

"You really pushed what you can do trying to sell to actors." The voice said.

"I understand..." the merchant replied, before he pulled out what appeared to be a wedding ring at first glance.

He then pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with a pen held in his right pinkie. He would then write the following words on the paper:

_'These items are to be delivered to Rony, as well as needing a signature from him ASAP.'_

Just as he finished writing, an impatient Rony asked, ""Where is my merchandise?" he looked over at the actors and said, "You nitwits better not have scared the delivery boy away with your stupid roulette game."

"Sir, I actually have your items right here." the merchant asked.

"Oh, finally!" Rony exclaimed as he was offered some papers to sign on. "It also needs a couple of more signatures and you're good to go." the merchant added with a smile.

The other actors walked over to the merchant and signed the line with their signatures. When they were done, he bowed to them and left.

"Hope to hear good reviews for your play and performance." He said.

"I thought you said-watching the play from the middle row-it was a terrible play with bad music and writing?" His AI told him.

The merchant collected his two hundred Beli, left the play, where he would get a drink...but was surprised when a young lady was being bitten in the butt by a cat.

"Get off of me, Cinnamon!" She yelled before sitting down, squashing the cat.

The cat scampered away, turned around to hiss at the girl, where it ran towards another animal the size of a bull but with the appearance of a dog except its horns and stood on its paws to get its attention. In no time at all, the animal was charging towards the girl and her blue haired mother figure. However, it was easily stopped by both women blowing into the dog-esque bulls' nostrils.

The dog backed away and proceeded to run away like the cat.

The merchant saw Charlotte the girl and Eiza the mom walk home now. The merchant decided he would get in his boat and do the same, if he wasn't thirsty.

He also needed something for his napthal fuel.

"Is this something wrong, Herbert?" his AI asked.

"I could sure use a drink, and maybe even something to help out with my fuel." Herbert replied.

"Grand idea. From your memory bank I saw a bar with twenty people inside. I guess unemployment is high here, but you should be able to get a decent drink there." The AI suggested.

"Thank you." Herbert replied with a smile, before he left for the bar. A moment later, he'd finally step inside and check his surroundings.

People inside were mostly men with a few girls inside. The eeriness of the bar came from the blue haired girl with a pen but no notepad. She looked like she could see through everyone's soul and her pen was a reaper tool. And then, the waitress walked over to Herbert.

"Hello, handsome. How can I help you?" she asked with a seductive grin as she handed him a menu, to which he looked at for a bit before finally taking his order.

"I think I'll have the..." he stammered looking at the waitress. It wasn't that he saw her beautiful; didn't even see her appearance. All he saw was a short haired lady with a wedding ring, a red cherry sweater, and Crimson eyed. He gulped. "Chicken thigh sandwich with pickles on the side, Johanna."

"No, it's...Josie. But you were close." The waitress said taking his menu.

She took the menu and walked to the kitchen, looking behind to see the customer looking down.

"You haven't forgotten about her, have you?" His AI asked.

"Uh, no...not at all!" Herbert replied, letting out an embarrassed chuckle.

"But didn't you forget to tell her what kind of drink you wanted? You did say you were thirsty." the AI said.

Herbert had an over the top reaction hearing that. He waved his hand and made a loud noise to call the waitress back.

While the waitress was walking back the blue haired girl looked at him, invisible screen in her hand to fictional characters, and started to think what all fans think when they want a story to go their way.

"This side part of a man eating at a restaurant is boring. Time to write in some thugs he has to kill so I can find out if he's worthy of being one of the main characters."

With her pen, the girl began writing into her notepad detailing and describing the thugs. Two big men stood up from their stools and walked to Herbert's table. Herbert was blissfully amusing himself with his AI.

"Well, what do we have here?" one of them asked.

"Some weakling that wants attention, I think?" the other added.

When Herbert suddenly heard those voices, he turned his head to notice them, his usually happy expression changing to a more bewildered one.

With quick hands, he pulled out his handgun and pointed it at the two big guys.

"Do I have your consent to open fire, Herbert?" His AI asked

"No. Just two dummies who act like their tough." Herbert responded.

That changed when Herbert was shot in the back of his knee, by none other than the waitress. The blue haired girl had a big smile on her face.

"This is what happens when a future main character meets a stereotypical short-lived character." She murmured.

However, her smile was short-lived, when a missile slowly emerged from one of Herbert's knees. It aimed right for one of the two men, and as it hit him, he crashed on his back onto one of the empty tables.

The waitress roared a loud battlecry before charging at Herbert. Herbert turned ninety degrees and fired...a clicking noise from the chamber.

'_Right, I put the ammo in my other gun.'_

The waitress attacked in a flurry of punches mostly directed into Herbert's shoulders. He managed to react kicking her into the nod derelict table stand. As she was wildly trying to stand up only for Herbert to keep kicking her back into the table, he reloaded his gun.

He never got the chance to fire. He was interrupted by the waitress figure turning into a Doppler Effect imagery-esque black and red colors-Herbert's image of it. It made him flinch thinking this transformation would turn her into a monster, but she returned back to the innocent eyed waitress she was before.

"Are you trying to kill me?" she asked.

"Josie...I can explain! There's a pair of giant guys attacking me, and I don't understand as to why you attacked me too!" Herbert replied.

The first thing she did was push Herbert off. Than she walked to the kitchen to get his food, peeved.

"Your paying for that table."

Herbert sighed, before the other remaining giant lunged for him, punching him several times in the torso, before uppercutting him.

"I suggest now would be the time for me to take over-"

Herbert's AI was interrupted by Herbert shooting the man in the shoulder.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

**I am glad to be done with another type of work involving being a fan and having lots of free time. I can still post another chapter of this story. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X_X

Charlotte could see her father's wolf ears perked up through the door window. Her father was a housemaid, or a house-servant as he's been called by everyone except Eiza and his daughter. Charlotte asked her "mommy" why Dadda was cleaning the house while she was lifting heavy stuff at a construction site.

"In this world we have things called resumes and work experiences. I trained hard both physically and mentally in the navy to become a respected admiral while your father's only skills was living on an island with two other people and achieving his dream of becoming the Pirate King; although both the father and mother can both have jobs...he just never got any experience for work."

Charlotte opened the door. Unsurprisingly, her father was in his hybrid form wagging his tail and moving his ears.

"Welcome back dear and Raven Brown. Love you and love you." Razi greeted, speaking to Charlotte and Eiza with a genuine smile.

Eiza didn't give compliments or affection to a man who didn't deserve it. To her it was a only those who work get to eat.

She rubbed her fingers against the table. Recently dusted and sprayed with two spurts of Windex.

She checked the stove. The dirty dishes on top were no longer there-she peeked into the refrigerator to spot them-and there was even steam coming out of the pot.

Last place for her to check was the floor, see if there was any plastic garbage or dust on the floor he failed to sweep up. Luckily for his job and his hard day of work rewards the dust was nowhere in sight.

Eiza smiled. "In the entire nineteen years you've been in this house today is your fourth best day."

"Great. I didn't want this place to look like a trash heap when our company arrived." Razi said.

Charlotte was surprised with the words that came out of her father's mouth. "What-"

The door opened after two quick knocks. From the door came the seventy year old white haired but still beautiful skinned Skypien Jane. Behind her were Momo, Tobiax, and Kiku.

Immediately after seeing her paraplegic Uncle among the fray of relatives, she walked up to him and gave him the backside of her hand on his hand stuck to the wheelchair arm, a reverse high five since he couldn't raise his hand up high...not that it made him less of a man.

"How's my favorite uncle whose name sounds like a girl?" Charlotte asked.

Momo had plenty of years to work on his smile. He smiled with his cheeks making a cheekbone face-not normal for a fishman to do-and answered his nieces question gingerly.

"I'm doing much better, feel a lot healthier. Your uncle Tobiax has been giving me coconut water which is a synthetic from real coconuts filling my electrolytes better than anything else I've drunk and helps with the pain in my armpit and my shoulders."

"Momo, we should all get started. Charlotte, Kiku, please just sit down and talk." Jane said.

Tobiax strolled Momo into a small room with no light source. The room was more of a shrine and it was used to remember the great friends who traveled, fought alongside, and died all to help Razi achieve his dream...and the one who sacrificed herself for a little Skypien girl.

Razi lit one candle and Jane lit the other candle. Razi kneeled down in the room, his hands in prayer position, as all his friends for twenty years kneeled down and started remembering what their sorrow was and how they get through it.

"We will always smile when saying goodbye." Razi started, his face not happy, sad, or even mournful. "We will always be enthusiastic to the chefs to show them how much work they put in. We will say a good thing for every good person who is no longer_ here_."

Tobiax trickled from his eyes-not like he knew many of them but in a strangers house the ones they lost affect how the host is treated.

"I'll remember Magure's smile and her selfishness."

Momo turned his head as far as it could go trying to prepare his speech, and remember that being in a wheelchair was nothing compared to losing his friends.

"I will always cherish meeting friends again like the ones who protect me and raise me before and after my mother left, losing to the Fourth Shichibukai, and killing the Fourth Shichibukai. I'll always cherish how Daniel showed me I can have a heart to love someone and Kiku for showing me I am a damn good dad."

Tobiax was slightly hurt by Momo. Despite living with him, nursing him, and even helping him raise the daughter he wanted...Momo never cared about him.

Jane started her speech, a hint of rough demeanor and sadness. "The first time I met them, I only didn't kill them because I needed a crew of my own. Up until I came back and learned four people of dick's crew were dead, I wanted to be the captain of his crew. Now, I can only get what I can get...and what I can't get is friends to replace the three who complimented my cooking and had my back…"

Eiza was up. She said enough last night. Razi said all he could. Both Eiza and Razi stood up. Razi walked to one candle and Eiza walked towards the other. Together they blew out the candles. They both looked down doing one last silent prayer.

'_There's no proof your gone forever, but we miss you so much we'll do anything just to hear your voices.'_ Eiza thought.

Charlotte and Kiku watched in. Charlotte though was distracted hearing the insensitive laughter behind her. She turned around and saw a blue haired girl with a notebook having a writers wet dream, watching people be sad while it's recorded by the writer.

"A funeral always breaths life to new possibilities in a sto-"

The blue haired girls notebook was seized by Charlotte. Before she had time to demand it back, Charlotte ripped it in half even though it was as strong as seven sticks meshed into one. She was that damn strong, as her uncle Momo would say.

"Didn't your mommy ever tell you it's illegal to be on someone's lawn, uninvited?" Charlotte said.

Her notebook was gone; her powers couldn't work without being able to use her notebook. She looked at her hands recollecting how the ridge of the notebook felt, and then she glared at Charlotte. She was ready to strangle the girl clearly more muscular than she was.

"This chapter was believed to have reached its epilogue, a timeskip to see the characters in the future before it's inevitable end. Unfortunately for you, you are now in a next generation story where the character has to live up to the predecessors title. Although I can't summon a being as powerful as your dad was at the peak of his power, I can still make a character beat you so you grow, but first I'll make that character crush your whole spine until nothing is left but grinder cartilage." The blue haired girl ranted.

Charlotte was unamused by this girls ravings. "I was going to let you keep at least half of your original book, but now you lost all of it."

With her unclipped fingernails, Charlotte scratched up the town pieces of paper until all that was left was confetti. The blue haired girl went from a toddler rampage to fullout vindictive.

The thrumming of the pipsqueak was no match for what her mother would do to her if she didn't get back to the table-Kiku also not happy with having to carry four chairs from the basement upstairs without Charlotte helping. Only one vacant seat left with cutlery, pepper shaker, and salad on the table spot the chair was in. Every other seat getting the turkey, Jell-O salad, mashed potatoes, brown beans, yams, asparagus, and ham all cooked by the ultimate granny chef Jane.

Charlotte made it to her seat. No sooner did she sit down, her fingers were interlaced with Kiku and Uncle Tobiax. All seven of them lowered their heads for a family prayer.

"Please Lord, for what we are about to receive may the lord thank us. Amen." Jane said like a preacher.

The food was scooped and then passed around to the person next to them. In five minutes Charlotte had turkey, ham, Jell-O salad, real green lettuce salad, and mashed potatoes on her plate. She cut the meat in half with her knife, then raised it over her mouth and dropped it down her gulch.

After tasting food far superior to what her dad calls "dinner"-three hundred and fifty-eight days of him making tomatoes and garlic meat or bone filled fish-Charlotte used her fork on the meat and dipped it into the mashed potatoes.

Eiza, Razi, and their guests had no morsel of embarrassment over what they say or how they look, so Eiza didn't hold back on being a backseat table instructor.

"Your holding the fork all wrong. It's suppose to be on the underside and sticking it in the fat area of the meat, not harpooning as much as you can in one forkful and then dropping it down your mouth. And use your knife more, you need to eat smaller portions so you can enjoy your dinner more."

Charlotte just spread the Jell-O salad over her meat and potatoes so she could eat less and feel that one great taste all food have when properly prepared.

As fast and outpaced she was, her gluttonous father already finished his plate and refilled it with bigger portions of food: everything with five pieces of dark meat and one white piece. Eiza felt a cyst in her head from the migraines and regret she repressed.

X_X_X_X_X

While Eiza was giving Razi a hard and long lecture on behaving around the dinner table, Herbert finally managed to leave the restaurant. Josie escorted him out herself.

"Thank you for dining with us today. Now don't ever come back or we'll get bounty hunters on your tail." She said.

She closed the door on Herbert. Herbert wasn't sad or even a little angry at how bad his dinner was at that dinner-if he expected a good meal he could've came during lunchtime. He was just ashamed he thought Josie liked him and found she took his breath away with how much she resembled his wife...at least from all the moments they weren't scared for their lives. Now reality clashed with his daydream and it said, "Girls don't see you the way you want them to, get back to delivering."

Herbert would be a good huckster now and take that cake to that house with the family dinner.

A shortcut helped him reach the front door. He asked his AI for help on the fastest route to go because he was suppose to have the dessert there fifteen minutes earlier.

"As an AI I know all the different kinds of cake, but I've never tasted it before. Care to explain what the appeal of cake is, Herbert?"

"Nothing. I never liked cake. I couldn't afford cake. Me and my sweet Tia had casserole as our dessert for our wedding." Herbert said, squeezing through a narrow alleyway with the cake on his head.

"When I take control, maybe you'd let me have some cake...just to see what it tastes like?" the AI suggested.

"Yeah, when mice learn circus tricks in prison."

Herbert reached the front door. It was rare for a huckster to come to a house as small as this one, usually they would go to houses with three windows on the upper area, but this one only had one. Herbert gulped down air for the voice he was going to make.

He knocked three hard knocks and two light knocks before acting all proverbial. "Your delivery merchant is here! Come get your cake please!"

Herbert heard a chair rattling from inside. Someone made it to the door, but they knocked over something on their way...hitting two different sides at the same time. When the door opened, a young adult female with blond hair greeted Herbert.

"Howdy. My name is Herbert and I was asked to deliver a cake onto this house. Do you live here?"

She shook her head. She made a hand gesture cocking the fingers in her right hand before wiggling him as if to say "come in". Herbert stepped in through the door, barely keeping the cake untouched on his way in. When he was inside, he saw two angel-like wings protruding from the young girl's back. He just stared rudely at them before smacking himself.

He saw the table where the family was eating. He flinched in surprise seeing a middle aged man and an elderly woman with wings protruding from their backs, a sawshark fishman, and a woman bonking a man with an icy fist. Taken by surprise, another young woman snuck up on him with her body down and stole the cake.

"The key lime cake is here. Whose ready for a sour delicious reunion cake?" She cheered.

The girl excitedly put the cake on the table. It was opened and slowly passed around for everyone to share, after the woman with the icy fists materialized a knife of ice to slice it into pieces. Then the fishman wheeled over. A paraplegic fishman as if things couldn't look any stranger. They did when without moving even a finger three large Beli bills were moved from his belly pocket into Herbert's hands.

"Thank you for delivering this cake on time. Have a nice day and if we ever see you again, try to smile because no friends of ours don't smile at a reunion." The sawshark fishman said in a gentle voice that didn't match his tremendous bulging body.

Herbert slowly and creepily tried smiling back, a shiver tingling on the back of his neck. That was his body warning him of the big fishman's teeth and long serrated nose, both sharp enough to decapitate or cleave through him. With no tip worthy attitude, he walked out of the house, and slowly started breathing out the trembling gunk in his mouth.

"Herbert." The AI spoke to Herbert.

"Christ, give me a minute. I'm coughing out piranhas." Herbert said hacking and coughing. His time to face terror in the face was officially annihilated.

"As your well aware my primary function is to help you move and react like a normal person again, with my augmentation also improving your senses and reflexes. As an advanced piece of technology made with metal close to a military fax machine, I have intel on the people you just ran away from like a fox from a hound."

"I was just caught off guard. I've met two ghosts once when I was younger and didn't even blink, but now that my mortality is replaced by machine schizophrenia I can't handle it." Herbert stopped hunching down and walked back to his wagon.

"If you bring those three people to a Marine base you would have the profit of a million wagons. Their names are Fishman Karate Man Momo, Ice Bitch Deserter Eiza, and Wolffang Razi, the King of the Pirates."

Herbert stopped walking. At first even his AI thought he was thinking about taking a lottery chance with those three bounties, until Herbert smacked the side of his head.

"Like Hell I'm going to bring those three into a Marine base. One: I only need as much money as I need to survive, keeping people happy and fat with bringing goods to them. Two: I'm not greedy so I have no need to face the strongest pirates from twenty years ago just to have more money than I know what to spend it on."

"Answers illogical. Requesting host's permission to take over and capture pirates dead or alive."

"Access…"

Herbert almost said denied. What he didn't expect was an arrow to be shot into his shoulder. Wrapped around the arrow was a double quotation line like when characters are talking in a book. Between the quotations was one word: Granted.

"Granted."

Herbert didn't know why he said it, for five minutes it felt like he was a new man, a man with no conscience or decisions of his own. When that man was gone, Herbert wanted to change his answer, but his legs already turned around and walked back the way he came...his AI on an impossible mission.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece

**Sorry for the long wait. I am doing better at collaborating on my fanfictions and webcomics but my best accomplishment is my job is finally letting me work on something fragile and expensive, things are looking up. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

Razi having two plates of food made him slower and have stomach pains eating the key lime cake. Momo was even eating it faster than him and Momo couldn't even have a fork of it without Tobiax going out of his way to help get it in his mouth and gulp it down.

The first one to finish their piece of piece was Charlotte. A strange thing soon happened after she finished her piece. While most times after dinner company or no company she would run to the sofa and read, this time she sat on her chair watching everyone eat. It was almost like she was waiting for everyone to finish.

"This is very good cake, Mr. Pirate King and Mrs. Pirate Queen." Kuki complimented. "Where does it come from."

" North Blue, same island the Vinsmoke Family were born in. And please, call me Eiza. Razi and I aren't really married." Eiza replied.

Kuki slammed her hands on her table, spat out the fork in her mouth, and raised her voice to a high pitch sound. "YOUR NOT?! But you've been living together for twenty years!"

"Not everyone who are the opposite sex and non-related living together have to be married, Kuki. It's more like roommates who will stay together forever and be okay when they bring back people they were on a date with. If it doesn't work out and they have kids...they just split up and share time with their kid." Eiza explained, failing to get that look of excitement off Kuki's face.

"Kuki, pick up your spoon, wash that stain your saliva piece has left on the good tablecloth, and apologize to Eiza for your behaviour." Momo ordered clearly the one with the hard head in the reins.

"Yes Papa Momo." Kuki replied looking sorry with her head down.

Kuki walked to the kitchen to get a small table cloth wet. When she was done washing it, only Razi was left with a piece on his plate...the size of a cracker. Kuki rushed from the kitchen, flew over everyone with her wings working indoors, and slammed on her plate flying the rest of her cake into her mouth.

She then raised her arms at her self victory. "I beat the pirate king in something."

"QUIT PLAYING AROUND AND CLEAN YOUR MESS!" Momo shouted, yelling louder than he's ever done before, it would be comedic if Kuki wasn't sweating and crying from it.

She finally wiped that wet cloth over the spot with cake residue and Razi finished his piece. He didn't get to finish chewing it when Charlotte stood up on her chair.

"Everyone...I've decided to leave Water 7 and go on an adventure. I'm going to look for a third person here so me and Hardy can see the world like Monkey D. Luffy did."

No one said a word about it. The only sound that could be heard was Razi chewing on his small piece of pie. Then there came a rattling nose on the small upper floor of the house.

A fast projectile crashed from the ceiling and exploded upon contact with the table!

Everyone fell silent getting off their chairs and staring at the hole the projectile made. What followed was a man falling through the hole making a bigger hole, and firing a revolver on the way down.

"What is he shooting, there's floorboards in the way?" Eiza shouted.

Kiku asked, "What are you doing here? Are you some kind of intruder or something?"

"I'm so sorry." The man said. His cheeks were wet with tears, but his hand raised a gun to Razi. "He won't let me go until I capture all three of you."

The man, Herbert, fired three rounds at Razi. His gun cocked back because he was out of ammo. By the time Razi transformed into a wolf hybrid Herbert reloaded six bullets.

Just as he was about to shoot, Razi charged towards him, his claws then striking the merchant in the torso. If the AI wasn't in control Herbert would have received a critical hit. However, it only took one hand to apprehend Razi's hand before his strike.

"No." he simply told Razi.

"What?!" the wolf hybrid asked, as Herbert started opening fire.

His kneecap opened and fire made with special fuels burned out. Razi would have his claws burned off if Eiza didn't breath an icy mist at the fire. Charlotte was feeling the pain in her body starting her transformation. She screamed as she slowly transformed into her wolf form, and her scream turned into a roar of anger.

Herbert felt a cold chill that made him feel like a helpless baby. His fear wasn't resonating well with his AI.

"A wolf...much like this man...Could she be his daughter?!" he asked. His AI just responded with, "Perhaps."

Herbert was restrained with two sharp claws from the hybrids hands over his wrists and a wolf showing him her bloodthirsty teeth below him.

Charlotte lunged at him, her teeth sinking into one of his arms. This caused him to let out a scream of pain.

"Let go! Stop hurting me! Let go!"

Charlotte reluctantly complied, backing off. "But why are you targeting me for?" Razi asked Herbert.

"Duh, your the king of the pirates. Your bounty is worth billions. I know taking you in would mean execution, but I didn't want to even fight you. My brain did." Herbert said, his reasons asinine.

"Oh, really? Are you trying to go against your mission?" his AI asked.

"My mission? I'm pretty sure you brought_ me_ into it!" Herbert replied.

"Stop talking to yourself and leave our house." Eiza said. "Be glad we are letting you leave in one peace."

Herbert sighed, and began to leave the house, but before he left, he told them, "My AI can actually speak, hence, I was talking to him." Eiza simply rolled her eyes at his statement.

Seven glaring eyes was enough for Herbert to walk out and slam the door with his foot.

Razi eventually turned back to human form, as did Charlotte. "What the hell was all that for?!" Charlotte asked.

"Just some weirdo who believed he could come and get a bounty placed in your father and I twenty years ago." Eiza cleared her throat. "As for your adventure idealism, I will allow it."

Kiku asked, "So can we resume eating?"

"I highly doubt that, considering that man just almost messed up the dining table." Jane replied.

"Not to mention we already had all the key lime pie, dear. But I'm sure Mr. Pirate King has some cookies he will share for all the hell we went through."

Even for a pacifist, Tobiax could be scary when he wanted something.

"Is there something wrong?" Momo asked him.

Razi shook head head. "No, if my daughter wants to go on an adventure that's fine. But maybe she should have a valuable item first and promise she's not sailing away to be a pirate like I was."

"Well, I have a friend named Hardy; he's always carrying this fedora that can instantly bring out an item that someone is thinking about." Charlotte replied.

"Good. That's your first mate. Now who will be your third member? Can't be someone in this room other than you and your going to need the Golden Hope if you want to sail." Razi replied.

Charlotte scratched the back of her head as she thought as to who could join her and Hardy.

"Doesn't have to be now. Let's just clean up for now." Razi said.

Charlotte nodded, and everyone would then clean up the dining table and such, before the time came for the visitors to head home.

Once everything was clean as a whistle, Eiza told Momo and the others, "I would like to thank all of you for paying us a much-needed visit. Even though we also had an intruder in our house."

"Well he didn't last long. I guess since we never fought a cyborg we can't complain at how weak they've become." Momo responded.

"Thank goodness. Anyways, we're happy to know that you've welcomed us guests here." Tobiax replied with a smile.

"No problem." Razi said, nodding in agreement.

Razi and Eiza waved goodbye to their former nakama. Now they had to figure out what to do with Charlotte.

"So can I pretty much go back to my room right now? You did sort of ground me, remember?" she asked.

Eiza moved her eyes in the direction of the stairs. "Sure. Go straight to bed young missy."

Charlotte sighed, before she headed upstairs and to her bedroom, leaving Razi and Eiza alone downstairs.

Razi looked at Eiza and she looked back at him, both of them not sure what to say. Razi knew she needed his gloves and Eiza knew she needed to stay away from an ambition involving being a pirate.

Eventually, the ice would be broken (figuratively speaking), as Eiza asked, "Do you mind if I have your gloves for a while?"

Razi blinked and twitched his ears before walking to his cupboard and handing Eiza his precious gloves.

"Thanks." Eiza said as she took the gloves, and Razi replied, "No problem."

X_X_X_X

Hardy once came to Water 7 with his Grandpa Macob and another strong but short tempered slave named Cernir. He remembered as to how hot-headed and stubborn Cernir was, and as a slave, he had required persistent training and such. He made seven times more than what Hardy made for a hard days work for an eleven year old boy, ten Beli for Hardy and 70 for Cernir.

"How's your day been?" Hardy asked.

"It's fine, I guess." Cernir replied.

Cernir was working on the same construction site as Eiza. He and Hardy moved in when Hardy was fifteen and they saved two thousand eight hundred Beli. Grandpa didn't make it though, he died three days after his grandson turned twelve.

"How about you?" Cernir asked.

"Me? Well, I'm doing okay. I think there's someone spreading the news about me becoming a pirate." Hardy said.

"A pirate?!" Cernir said, his eyes widening in surprise.

Hardy knew that surprise was concern for Hardy's safety. If he ever left the island he would be tracked down and killed by the Marine's.

"I didn't know you'd care about me." he told Cefnir.

"Well, since I began working, we didn't seem to get along much. But as time passed, I think we were finally starting to click as unlikely friends." he told him, prompting Hardy to let out a small smile.

"Great. I'll always remember you as the wood boy and you can remember me as the saw/axe man. Now take half of the savings for your trip." Cernir said.

"But only fourteen percent of it is from my earnings." Hardy said.

"Fourteen percent? Well...how does taking the seven percent from it sound to you?" Cernir asked.

Hardy wished he just kept his big mouth shut.

He rolled his eyes, before Cefnir asked, "Come on, dude. What's your answer?" all the while tapping his foot impatiently.

"I'll need at least some Beli if I am to follow on this crusade so my answer is yes."

"Well, thank goodness." Cernir said, letting out a relieved sigh.

Charlotte was waiting in her room for someone to come in.

Having heard a knock on her door, she asked, "Hello. Who's there?"

"It's me. Eiza."

"Sure, come in, Mom." Charlotte replied.

Eiza opened the door and entered her daughter's room, and took out what appeared to be a letter. "A friend of yours wrote something to you." she told her.

Charlotte quickly grabbed the paper to read who sent it and what it said. The letter happened to be from Hardy, and it indicated that he was excited to become a pirate alongside Charlotte. That made her smile once she'd finished reading.

"Silly Hardy, who said I wanted to be a pirate?" She asked no one but it helped her relax as she folded the paper. "I just want to see the world."

"But I know for certain pirates love to see the world besides just stealing." Eiza said, sporting a confident grin. "Just like I have." she added.

"Dad said you never really became a pirate until you pushed a lowly monk off the boat in a big block of ice. What happened to him anyways?" Charlotte said.

"How should I know, I may have been a Marine but I just assumed the ice melted, he swam to shore, and he managed to carry on the bloodline of the monsters who carry around shards that contain souls of elemental beings." Eiza replied. "Back to the conversation at hand, be a pirate and see it's the same as just exploring the world."

"If you were my real mother that would be terrible advice to tell a teenage girl." Charlotte smiled.

Eiza chuckled, and said, "It probably would...I think."

Charlotte then went to get her stuff ready in case she was ready for a new adventure. By the time she was done, downstairs was completely clean and waxed by her dad.

"I'm gonna meet up with Hardy; see you soon!" Charlotte told her parents.

"Be careful out there, okay?" Razi replied. "And I mean _really _careful."

Charlotte beamed that big smile of hers before running outside. She didn't feel like running on two legs so she put her backpack on her back and slowly and painfully turned into a real wolf to run on her four legs.

She grit her teeth as she ran on down to rendezvous with Hardy, with many people looking on in surprise. Doing her best to look non-threatening, she gave them a wolf smile The citizens were confused, before she left. Hardy was waiting for Charlotte near a bar, and for a while, he waited. Once she'd show up, she reverted back to her human form.

"We are finally going to do it, Hardy. If I sound way too jubiliant for my own good, it's because I always wanted to see the world outside of Water 7 and once we get another person to join our group we CAN leave."

"Sounds pretty cool; I'm up for it!" Hardy replied, sporting an excited smile. "But who can we recruit into our group?" he asked.

"I think...that strange guy with the leg who attacked my family and I in our home."

"You mean Herbert?" Charlotte asked. "He's the guy that tried to kill my dad!" she added.

"Yeah, but he could be pretty useful as one of our nakama." Hardy replied reassuringly.

"Maybe. If I do invite him to join he won't be a permanent nakama. We'll just force him to take us to Thriller Bark and then find someone there. Since Thriller Bark I heard isn't a scary island anymore and people have started to grow warm and friendly it should be easy." Charlotte said.

"Sounds neat. It's not such a bad idea, anyway." Hardy replied, smiling his approval. Charlotte smiled back, before they both went to search for Herbert.

First they asked people at restaurants since they were sure he had to eat somewhere. One waitress had a lot of bad things to say about him. Mostly involving making him her slave to pay for the damages he's made.

The woman was in fact Josie, and she added, "He's probably working his job as a merchant, I suppose."

"We know he's a damn merchant," Charlotte replied. "He sold us a cake."

"Well fuck, I don't know anything about him." She replied.

"Yeah, okay. Anyway, when was the last time you saw him?" Charlotte asked.

"About two hours ago. He could be anywhere in this big island with that much time pass." She answered.

Taking her words to heart, Hardy then said, "I suggest we should look around the island, and see where he could be possibly be at the moment."

"Do what you want. I have another eight hours working here before I earn enough tips to leave." She said.

Charlotte let out a sigh of relief, as she and Hardy exited the bar. Once outside, they began their search, and at first glance, it seemed fruitless.

However, Charlotte suddenly detected Herbert near a town square, looking at what appeared to be a ring in his hand.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece

**Sorry for the long update. Today is my birthday and yet I still want to try updating what I can. I thank CuddlyChristina but now after posting this I have to write my more exciting stuff. **

X_X_X_X

He looked like someone tantamount to how Charlotte's father mourned the loss of his friends.

"Hey, I've seen you before." Charlotte's words were enough to get Herbert to notice her and Hardy. "You must be Razi's daughter..." he said as he looked over at her.

"Don't say my name like we are friends ever again." Charlotte glared. "I do though need you to join my crew. We are an exploration crew and your membership is temporary. Three rules for you to follow. One is when we meet people you won't address me as Captain, one of you can take that title. Two is if we fight some corrupt man or even someone as bad as my grandfather and manage to win, we never take credit for the victory. That will go to someone else. Three, I don't plan on this being a big adventure, only need three people, so don't think I care about treasure or finding someone to do one job each. Everyone does what I ask and if they can't do it they can learn to do it."

Herbert shrugged, and replied, "Sounds fine to me."

His AI suddenly asked, "Are you trusting this girl?!"

"Hush!" Herbert silenced him.

Charlotte turned around and walked towards water. She was ten steps ahead before she turned around, slightly peeved with the boy's.

"Follow this young nakama before she finds to different brave men, captain." Charlotte said.

They went aboard the Golden Yumi, ready to set sail. With Charlotte's commands, the boat would finally go forth, ready to head for their destination.

Charlotte maned the helm, something no captain in previous crews did on their boat. They weren't pirates by name though and as per Charlotte's instructions the captain maintains the ship. Hardy was in charge of the telescope to see if any threats were near so he could use his gum arms to steer the ship; something only Charlotte has seen him do. As punishment for what he did to her parents' house, Herbert was the only helping clean the ship.

As the ship sailed on, another ship was able to come into contact, causing Hardy to notice and tell Charlotte, "Hey, looks like we got company!"

The ship looked like Monkey D. Luffy's ship before the Going Marry. The crew were a light shaven blue haired swordsman with his sword stuck to his back, a long wavy pink haired girl who was admiring her reflection, and a rooster haired blond kid with a Luffy-esque smile standing on his ships figurehead.

"Look what we got here, a bunch of starry-eyed rookies wanting to make it big like we have! And more importantly, me...the future king of the pirates!" the bald swordsman said with a grin.

"Hmph, you're the captain, huh?" the pink-haired girl asked Charlotte. Too bad you can't outsmart me in the beauty department!"

"You wanna scrap, punks?" the blond with the rooster-style hair asked.

_'Those dumbasses just signed their death certificate._' Charlotte thought.

"En garde, bitch!" she exclaimed, getting into her stance with her weapons, as did Hardy and Herbert.

Their fight was interrupted by a Marine ship. A Marine ship flipped out of the water to everyone's astonishment.

Charlotte looked up as she asked, "What the...?!" The others were just as surprised as she was. "How dare you?!" the pink-haired pirate asked.

"You idiots need to turn around and get back to shore before you get-"

Charlotte was cut off by the sound of gunfire coming from the Marine's ship.

"HEY! Cut that out already!" the bald swordsman yelled at the Marines.

Charlotte was just surprised there wasn't a bullet already in their skulls. She didn't know if she could help them with how far away the Marines were, and she wanted to be a discrete adventurer not wage war on the Marines.

"We're in the middle of an important adventure here; actually, this is my first adventure, and I don't want any intruding Marines like you here!" she told the Marines.

"Adventuring?!" a Marine asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Charlotte nodded her head. Hopefully he would understand her situation and not attack her.

Indeed, he simply backed out, refusing to interfere with Charlotte and the others. Some other Marines were quick enough to chastise him, but he still believed he was doing the right thing.

Too bad she couldn't save the three pirates.

"What the-?!" the blonde pirate had hardly enough time to finish his sentence, when the Marines began shooting him and the other two pirates down.

Charlotte didn't weep for their deaths, but it was an end that shouldn't be dealt to newbie pirates. The Marine wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Sorry you had to see that, miss." He said.

"I suppose Henry the coward should be punished for not joining us in the killing." a second Marine said.

Henry was surprised, and was about to get shot by his former comrades, until he chose to jump off. Thankfully, Charlotte had pulled a rope from Hardy's hat, and threw it over to Henry.

Charlotte wasn't sure if he should help him like she didn't for the pirates or hand him over to the Marines to not be on their bad side.

"Listen, I just want to go home to reunite with my fiancee! I don't understand as to why I became a Marine in the first place!" Henry explained.

"I'd think it's because Marines dominate the seas now and every fiancée said yes because you are a Marine." Charlotte replied.

"Well, in my case, I was basically good at repairing boats and other vehicle-like things, but...shooting and attacking are just not my style." Henry said.

"Seriously?!" Charlotte asked out of surprise, her eyes widening a bit.

Hardy shook his head and rolled his eyes. Three pirates were just killed without seeing the same execution Gol D. Rogers had and she was chatting with the man who killed them like an inexperienced newcomer.

"I didn't mean to shoot them, please forgive me!" Henry cried out, getting into a dogeza position, and apologizing.

"Be a man, there's no makeup for taking a man or woman's life, but this is war between Marine's and pirates. Now help us burn their bodies and burn their ship." Charlotte said, acting scarier than Henry's boss.

Henry sighed, and replied, "O-Okay. I'll do what I can, Miss." With that, Charlotte, Hardy, Herbert, and even Henry held a funeral for the fallen three pirates. Their bodies would then be burnt, and their ship was also destroyed.

"Not everyone is meant to be a pirate King, boss, or even be remembered, but not everyone can say they tried their hardest and died in glorious battle like you three did. May there be a heaven where your journey has a happy ending."

The others nodded in agreement. "Do you think we might encounter those Marines again?" Herbert asked.

"I don't know...but then again, they're pretty unpredictable." Hardy replied.

"No shit we are encountering Marines again, forty percent of this whole world is filled with Marines!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"So...should we resume our adventure?" Herbert asked. Hardy just shrugged, and looked over Charlotte for an answer.

"No decision. Your lucky this is my boat which means I'm the captain and I say we head on to Thriller Bark."

"Understood!" Hardy and Herbert replied. Charlotte looked over at Henry and asked, "Wanna join us going there?"

Henry nodded. "Sure..." he simply replied.

Charlotte waited in the hull doing her sketches. She wanted to be sure she was keeping track of the inventory, location, and her quota in case only her diary was found when the ship sank to Hell.

The boat continued forth without any incident, until it would eventually reach Thriller Park after its fairly lengthy voyage. Charlotte would then demand Hardy and the others to anchor the boat, which they did after a few tries.

They were in Thriller Bark, and it looked dark and creepy. Dark and creepy...Charlotte was told it should be light and crowded with people. It should be a home for humans and Demi-humans.

"Pretty spooky locale if you ask me." Hardy said.

Henry nearly shuddered in fear, but had no choice but to maintain his composure without freaking out.

"Well I got you nice adventures here...I think it's time I head neck to my base." He said in a cowering tone.

"Hey, you're coming along with us, whether you want it or not!" Hardy told him. "Besides, you might need to work on your bravery." he added.

Henry sighed, before reluctantly agreeing to follow Charlotte and the others.

"Since we have three members now, do you want to go back to Water 7 Herbert?" Charlotte asked.

"Sure; I could use some time off." Herbert replied, nodding in agreement with a small smile. Charlotte and Hardy smiled back, wordlessly agreeing with him.

"Now, I'm going to talk to the grass to see if they know what is wrong with Thriller Bark." Charlotte walked to the grass-little sprouts of it-and asked it about Thriller Bark. Henry was confused, but Hardy knew her linguist ability. She then walked back just as confused as Henry. "They say 'Wait for her'."

None of the trio knew what that meant...until a glowing lady in a white dress with light green hair, a golden tiara, and red eyes walked towards them.

"A nymph." Henry said.

She giggled as she made a 'come hither' gesture. "Either she's taunting us, or wants us to follow her." Hardy said.

"Perhaps she's whom the grass mentioned." Charlotte added.

None of those questions could be answered without either of them following the nymph which they did.

"Do you think she's friendly?" Henry asked.

"I don't know...we chose to follow her, so that we can find out ourselves." Charlotte replied.

The nymph led them to a woman no one was expected to find. A dryad. Dryad, nymph, the only difference between the two was the dryad had one arm made out of wood.

"Greetings, young humans." the dryad said, a small smile across her face. "Who are you both?" Charlotte asked.

"My name is Helena, and the nymph here is Felicia." Helena replied.

"Hello. Not to sound rude but what happened to Thriller Bark? I thought this was suppose to be better now."

Helena frowned upon being asked as to what became of Thriller Bark. "Believe it or not, I'm just as puzzled as you are." she told them.

"Well I've asked all the grass on the ground and it's all giving me puzzled answers. I'm just going to go find out by going into that castle."

Noticing the elegant, but dark castle not too far away from them, Hardy asked out of curiosity, "Are you sure that castle is safe or anything? It looks kind of foreboding..."

"Of course it's foreboding. It's probably housed by a dozen chimeras or sinister beings like the last time Luffy was here." Charlotte replied.

"Well, isn't that a fact?" Hardy said, raising an eyebrow. Henry nearly flinched, but took a deep breath to make sure everything was going to be fine.

"I would suggest you stay cautious if you ever dare to enter." Felicia told them.

Charlotte took a few steps into the darkness. She saw someone sleeping near a tree. It was a male. He was brawny, had skin very white and healthy, a ponytail with spiky blue hair in front of the ponytail, and leather shoes. He wad sleeping like Charlotte when she has to go to bed.

He suddenly opened and eye, and asked, "Excuse me, but what are you doing here?"

Charlotte noticed him, and replied, "My friends and I are just pirates; we're even here to investigate and maybe steal some good stuff from the castle."

The man blinked his eyes for a few seconds, looking dazed and out of it. Then he groped Charlotte on her left breast.

"EEEEEKKK!" She squealed.

She smacked the lab wearing guy in the face. The slap hurt, not enough to hide Henry taking out his pistol and pointing it at Charlotte.

"Friend!" He exclaimed standing up and hugging Charlotte. "Good to see you. How's life being an actress for a pirate part?"

Henry was a complete nincompoop and was easily persuaded by the man's acting. He holstered his gun before he almost shot Charlotte.

"Who's this?!" Henry asked. Charlotte blushed, before she asked, "Fritz...how on earth did_ you_ get here?!"

Before Fritz could reply, Charlotte instantly pushed him and herself away, so that the bullet missed them completely. "Henry?!" she asked Henry, causing him to bite his lower lip and lower his gun. "I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that." he stammered.

Fritz leaned in close to her ear to whisper. "Next time don't say the P word around a Marine, kitty. It's been five years since that word has become a death sentence."

Charlotte was confused. "It's been twenty years since they did that; five years was fifteen years ago."

The man felt his blood turn pale.

Henry had the urge to faint, but cleared his throat. "Well, I AM a Marine...or at least I'm trying to be one, but I usually don't fit in with them."

"Sounds like your friend here's got a pretty good point." Fritz replied, sporting a small grin.

"Yeah...I think he felt pretty bad about doing away with those three...whatchamacallits." Charlotte said with a nod. Henry also nodded in agreement.

X_X_X_X

If whoever walked into the castle expected demon lords waiting their time to feast on the blood of the living...they were out of luck. Using a Den Den Mushi projector-a snail capable of creating lights-the seven residents were watching a movie where the knight comes home to be reunited with his wife.

One of the residents, a young girl named Sheila, asked, "Boo! Where's the conflict?!"

"There will be conflict soon, kid. You just need to be patient." another resident, a middle-aged man named Bates replied.

"Yeah. There's always conflict in the movies that give a damn about their storylines." A young teenage boy with spiky hair and dichromatic blue and yellow eyes named Kerry said.

The soldier and the lady kissed ending the movie. A few of the group clapped.

"So now what? I'm hungry." Sheila said, getting out of her seat.

"Sis, why is it that you're always bored?" her younger sister, Rachael, asked her.

"Well other than living on a foggy forest where we are the only residents, I wanted to sail away some time ago."

Rachael sighed as she leaned up against the wall, glancing at her sister as well as the others occasionally.

She was the only werewolf in this castle and yet she had to be the most levelheaded and plain of the seven.

"Hey, I think I hear footsteps from below!" Kerry exclaimed, as he heard a rather low noise of people walking. This prompted Sheila and Rachael to take notice, too.

X_X_X_X

Below, Hardy, Charlotte, Henry, and Fritz were standing on a red carpet with portraits of seven young boys and girls in a group photo.

"Who are these people? I highly doubt they're alive as of today." Charlotte asked. "I don't know any of them, so my answer is exactly that." Hardy added.

Frisk looked at the girl pictures for a period of time longer than a simple glance. Charlotte was hoping he knew these people, until he pointed at the girl with the bobcut black hair and nice smile.

"If your my black kitty, she's my night cat." He joked to no one's amusement.

Charlotte rolled her eyes as Fritz remarked about the girl - namely Etoile. "How funny; but I don't need any jokes at the time being, let's move." she told him.

Fritz walked behind Charlotte while Henry and Hardy walked together through the dark and scary hall. As they went forth, they would hear the sound of a girl giggling. This was enough for the group to take notice (and for Henry to nearly flinch). Hardy and Charlotte rushed up front to protect the helpless Henry and the mysterious Frisk.

"Hello...is there anyone there?" the voice asked.

"That's the same voice that just laughed some time ago...who is this person, exactly?" Hardy asked.

"I believe he or she could be one of the people in the portrait." Charlotte replied.

"That has got to be the silliest thing I've ever heard." Frisk blatantly said. "And I was told I've been asleep for fifteen years and that boy's are making yandere love dolls in their rooms."

"Silly?!" the voice asked, before Etoile suddenly emerged. Fritz blinked in confusion, and Charlotte told him, "This must the night cat you've mentioned."

"I call all girl cat names. It's because their kind of my thing." He replied.

Behind Etoile were Racheal and Sheila. They stood face to face with the two quivering men, one nonchalant man, and the sole woman in the group.

"Oh, shit, are we cornered?" Hardy asked.

"I'm afraid not; the four of us versus these three; it might be like some kind of cakewalk." Charlotte replied.

"Three?" The short dark haired one said. "There is seven of us here and the remaining four will be down to meet you if we aren't back up in ten minutes."

"In that case, how about a one on one fight you versus me?" Charlotte challenged.

"Fine. Then so be it." Etoile replied, shrugging her shoulders as she and Charlotte approached one another.

The other two stepped closer, only for a big mountain of bubblegum to pile through the hall keeping them out. The same pile of bubblegum piled behind Charlotte keeping Henry and Frisk out.

"What is that?!" Rachael asked.

"Oh, this is bubblegum, but it's more than just bubblegum." Hardy replied with a grin.

"It's my friend himself." Charlotte said sidestepping back and forth waiting to throw the first punch.

Her attack soon commenced, instantly punching Etoile in the gut. Etoile groaned as she took the first blow, before taking out a rather odd choice of weapon.

That weapon was a hola-hoop with three swordlike appendages on the hoop. She bit on her finger like a cat biting a human. Soon she had a small drop of blood she squeezed out and dripped on the tip of her blade. As bizarre as that was, things became stranger after she twirled the blade and her whole body was covered in blood.

"Is that a chakram?!" Henry asked. "Looks like it." Hardy replied.

"Let me guess...you fight using blood?" Charlotte asked, blinking her eyes in confusion and surprise.

"Yeah. I am Nathan's daughter. I am the daughter of the captain of the Blood P Word. Perhaps you've heard of them?" She said cockily.

"Well, I'm daughter of Wolffang Razi the Pirate King and he's only had a good relationship with two pirates captains so of course I know him. I'm still going to whoop you though."

"Try me." Etoile said, possessing an over-confident smirk.

Charlotte then charged towards her with her weapon, striking Etoile with some decent damage.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece

**I had a good Labor Day. I just noticed on my profile it says I'm from Spain. I'm not, I'm Canadian. I just visited Spain. Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this. **

X_X_X_X

Etoile fought back by nearly slicing Charlotte apart with her blood chakram. Charlotte was able to luckily sustain a fair cut on her torso. She then had to try something she never did before to counter Etoile. She grew a wolf tail from her rear and used it to surprise Etoile by rubbing it against her calve.

Etoile suddenly jolted and asked, "What the...?!"

She staggered forward making a discomfort noise as her legs stretched. To their surprise, she turned around and clawed at her, solidified red claws trying to rip off Charlotte's skin. Charlotte raised an eyebrow as she asked, "So it seems to me you're a werewolf, but rather a different kind of werewolf, right?"

"Yes. I too can create a tail, ears, and even morph onto a wolf or a werewolf, but it's with my blood powers. Sometimes I feel like a freak, a monster. If it wasn't for my dad...I don't know who I'd be. All I am though is the person that will beat ya."

Charlotte grimaced, now considering the idea of transforming into a wolf-human hybrid and perhaps upstaging Etoile. Charlotte though needed the right tempo, right adrenaline and inspiration to have the strength to go that far. All she could do was claw back. With each hit, Etoile got some considerable damage, before she would then morph fully into her werewolf form.

She was not furry like Razi and everyone else who ate the Wolf Wolf Fruit, she had small yellow eyes, pointy ears, and abs on her now bulky body. She had the chakram slanted on her front body. She swung her claw and the chakram moved closer to Charlotte like a shark.

Charlotte took a small hit from the blade, but the second time Etoile came at her, Charlotte knew she had to evade the chakram and attack Etoile. Her sharp claws punctured the ring. All it took was a jab and the whole metallic serrated ring collapsed much to the blood wolves anger. In her werewolf form, all she could do was roar and growl.

Charlotte could only let out a toothy grin, before ready to deliver the final blow. "Wait!" she heard Henry call out.

"How on earth did you guys get into this castle?" he asked Etoile and the others, prompting Rachael and Sheila to notice his inquiry. "Are you spirits or something?" he added.

Rachael and Sheila stared at him, an obvious buildup for suspense, before they started laughing out loud at the clown called Henry. Even Etoile, badly injured and in werewolf form, chuckled at the hubris the scrawny human had to ask that ridiculous question.

"We are humans and we are trying to find out what happened to Thriller Bark. This place used to be a paradise." Racheal said.

"A paradise...?" Hardy asked. "We actually came down here to find us some treasure and what not." "But not only are you guys human, but some of you are werewolves, too." Fritz added.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sheila replied.

"And Etoile is the only werewolf in our whole family." Rachael remarked.

The other four boys and girls ran down the hall activating blood powers. Rachael and Sheila noticed them, shrugged their shoulders, and activated their blood powers.

"So you all use blood as your main weapon?" Fritz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right." Kerry replied with a nod.

"Sound impressive..." Frisk twirled his arm a little, fiddled with his chin, all the while all seven blood lads and girls were waiting for him to carry out his sentence.

"Sounds impressive but what?" Etoile asked.

Frisk reached our his hand at the seven. "Actual Serious Move: Sonic Punch." he said nonchalantly.

His hit reached Etoile first, then Sheila, Rachael, Kerry, and finally the others. Henry's mouth gaped in surprise, literally speechless. Frisk defeated the seven members in just one move. Frisk though looked at Rachael and acted like nothing happened.

"I think the problem with Thriller Bark is there's another occupant causing the privation here."

"Huh? An occupant?" Rachael asked, blinking in surprise. The others were equally bewildered at with Fritz told them. "But how...?" Sheila asked.

"Well, how often do you guys even leave this castle?" Hardy asked.

The group look at each other, and were initially puzzled before Sheila suddenly spoke up. "Sometimes during the day, but only when we look for food and stuff."

"Don't you have a ton of food in the castle?" Hardy asked, scratching his head.

"Well, we eat most of it every time we use a Den Den Mushi for a projector. Movies make you eat without thinking about whether your hungry or not." Kerry said.

"You must have it pretty well here." Said Henry.

Charlotte decided to morph back into her human form, and crossed her arms. "So you guys brought up an occupant causing trouble in Thriller Bark?" she asked. "Most definitely." Fritz replied.

"I think I saw your picture." Etoile said. "You were a teacher here."

"Science teacher. Biology teacher. All the girls were my kitty's and the boys were my buffalo's." Frisk said to the girls silent disgust.

"Kitties and buffaloes? Is that your way of referring to your students?" Another man, a blonde-haired, red-eyed youth named Colin, asked.

"You can talk about my life choices later. I'm not wasting any time wondering who is responsible for this miasma, I just want to do one good thing on this island and then get the hell out of here. Maybe go to a gentleman's club at Water 7." Frisk said.

"Okay, okay. Geez." Colin said, crossing his arms.

"You sure we can find out who the occupant causing trouble is?" Henry asked Fritz and Charlotte, causing the latter to roll her eyes.

"This isn't our problem, you know that, right?" Charlotte said, staring at him hands down the most intense stare she's made yet. "Your free to leave, maybe your toes and your _boys_ won't chafe on your way to a boat. As for me, I'm going to put my hand into a hat and pull out the first step I need."

She then walked towards Hardy and took his hat, before sliding her hand into it.

From that hat she pulled out a breathing mask. There was a sticker on the mask.

Muddy and Swampy.

"Is that some kind of breathing mask?" Henry asked, scratching his head.

"Believe me, it's not just some ordinary breathing mask, hence the sticker." Charlotte replied.

Charlotte walked back the way she came to get out of the castle and henceforth search the forest. She was followed by Henry though.

"You heading back to your ship?" She asked.

"Of course not!" he replied, before adding, "I'll try not to cower too much...I hope."

"Hopefully you won't." she replied, before Hardy and Fritz followed her out also.

Only one of the siblings followed the four as they ventured towards the muddy swamp water.

It was Etoile who asked, "So...why are we here at this swamp for?"

"You'll see, after I manage to dive down there and bring up evidence this water has been tampered with."

Etoile crossed her arms, before she and the others watched as Charlotte put on the breathing mask, and finally dove right into the swamp. Charlotte could see pages from books, rope, and vials of blood littered all over the bottom of the muck swamp.

_Ick_, she thought to herself, and began to get her hands on whatever seemed important to her and her allies, such as the pages as well as the vials. Then she resurfaced to the relief of Hardy. Frisk was smoking a cigarette.

"Thank goodness you got out safely!" Hardy exclaimed. "So, what did you find?" Henry asked.

"I think we are dealing with people who cursed this land using someone's blood and a dark book. Than again, that sounds like a load of bull so I'm sure there's something else happening." She said.

"Like a ritual?!" Henry asked, nearly flinching. Truly, there was something very wrong going on in Thriller Bark.

"Yes. And when there's a ritual there's always someone whose had to be sacrificed." Hardy said.

Henry shuddered, and Charlotte, Etoile and Fritz were very suspicious. "Sounds like we need to find out what causing these rituals and what not." Charlotte told them.

Charlotte wasted no time reaching into the hat and pulling out...a pair of binoculars. She shrugged her shoulders and used the binoculars to look straight ahead. There, she saw something that looked like it was made of clay start to grow into something she didn't want to know.

"Walk on, adventures. Captain, you up for a fight?" Charlotte asked.

"Yay!" Frisk exclaimed before he spontaneously hit Hardy. Then, Frisk propelled backwards into a train just from hitting Hardy.

"What?" Hardy gasped completely surprised. "But you beat six people with one move. Why did you do that hitting me?"

"I was just giving you a celebratory slap on the shoulder." Fritz told him as he grinned.

"Well, it didn't look like a slap to me!" Hardy said, looking fairly annoyed.

Charlotte made her approach towards the men in the circle. Hardy was behind her tiptoeing like he was discreet. And Frisk took ten steps, took a swig of something in his flask found in his breast pocket, and walked together with Hardy and Charlotte.

Henry was cautiously walking behind the group, with Etoile right in front of him. "When are you gonna learn how to be more confident as a shooter? Or even as a pirate?" she asked.

"I don't know...It might happen, but I just don't know when." he replied.

Charlotte said the P word again. She keeps forgetting it's outlawed to use that word and that Henry was a Marine. Guess he decided to change sides and there was no taboo saying it at Thriller Bark.

They finally approached the cultist. They noticed Hardy.

"Have you come to believe with us?" One asked.

"Uh...no. We actually came down here to find some clues." Hardy replied.

"Clues? What for?" another cultist asked.

Charlotte extended her claws. That book one was holding looked the same as the one she saw in the swamp with the blood. But she couldn't just say that, she had to be discreet.

"You seem to have a very good taste in reading books." she said.

"Oh, really? Thank you for the compliment." the first cultist replied, a small smile appearing on his lips.

"Mind if I read one of them?"

The cultists started to sweat nervously. They trembled in fear from a woman barely entering womanhood approaching their book. Three of the cultists rushed to the book to form a wall that tried to prevent Charlotte from reading the book. With one roundhouse kick, the three of them were swept aside. The others jolted in shock, as Charlotte's fellow nakama jumped in to help her deal with the rest.

"Perhaps Etoile's abilities might help us out." Fritz said with a grin.

Etoile jumped in, but she only punched a cultist while Charlotte skimmed through their treasured book.

'_Hmm...what is it that's being described here? What does this book have anything to do with this ritual?' _Charlotte thought to herself.

"We need his help now!" A cultist yelled.

"Right. Prepare to conquer him." Another replied.

Charlotte had an idea she wanted to try. To do it, she needed to look vulnerable.

"Please! Please don't summon a giant dog. If you summon a big mean dog, I don't think my heart could take it." She fabricated.

"What? A dog?" another cultist asked out of confusion.

"What do you mean a giant dog?" another chimed in.

"Please don't summon a vicious, four legged, spiky fur dog to devour me! Please!"

One of the cultist had a snide smile on his face. He rose his arms and uttered an incantation. Soon, a giant dog with two skulls on its color, yellow eyes, and a sharp mouth for a nose appeared. It growled at Charlotte, approached Charlotte, but before it could eat Charlotte...she breathed in its nose.

The giant dog kicked its feet up like a horse and growled in pain. Charlotte smiled now.

"Because a wolf can always out smart a dog. A dog is just a few percent of a wolf while I'm all wolf."

The cultists were confused, and they could only watch as Charlotte began to transform into her wolf form. She and her nakama were now confident that they could take down the group of cultists and claim victory.

Charlotte knocked the teeth out of two cultists in just one punch. As the two cultists were laid out on the ground, the others attempted to fight back, even the giant dog creature. Unfortunately for the cultists, they didn't realize they were also going to get busted up alongside their colleagues.

Soon all the cultists were beaten to a bloody pulp and the giant dog had disappeared into thin air. For instance, Henry had used his fists to punch at one cultist, beating him up and leaving him bruised up. Another cultist was slashed repeatedly by Charlotte's wolf form, and started bleeding almost instantly.

Once the creature disappeared, Charlotte looked over at the book, and began looking through the pages. Her mouth nearly gaped as she and even the others took a look at certain pages.

"This book doesn't do much except make this island turn into an uninhabitable location in exchange for a carnivorous Beast to be summoned." Henry said.

"We need to reverse this." Hardy said.

"But how?" Henry asked, shrugging his shoulders in bewilderment.

"There's possibly one way to find out!" Etoile replied, sporting a confident smile.

Charlotte was sure she was thinking the same thing Etoile was thinking.

"Burn it down!" Charlotte exclaimed, before taking out some gasoline from Hardy's hat, and then followed it up with a box of matches. First, she poured the gasoline onto the book, and also took out a match and fired it up.

She would drop the match onto the book, causing it to instantly catch fire as it began to burn. "Let's get out of here!" she told the others, and they all ran out as the book was now on fire.

Frisk was the only one who didn't run. He walked up to the ball of fire once a book and he held out his hands. The fire was encased in a block of ice then watched the fire vanish inside the ice before the ice melted. He looked around the forest. Slowly, the fog was lifting, the grass was growing, animals were making noises, and even the swamp looked cleaner.

"Thank love of kitty goddess that worked. I thought by burning the book she would make the spell irreversible but I'm too much of a nihilist to care. However, she nearly burned down the whole fucking forest and no magic can fix that."

As he thought to himself, Etoile could only stand in amazement, and even her fellow castle friends looked out of the castle and were just as delighted as she was.

"This is great. The island is flourishing again just like when Monkey D. Luffy arrived." She said.

"Which means people are going to want to come back to this castle and we can't squat here anymore. Shit." Kelly said.

"Guess we should all just get out of here!" Rachael exclaimed. Sheila nodded in agreement, and the group began to leave the castle. Etoile was waiting outside for all of them, a small smile on her face.

"Too bad. I enjoyed the time we had together." Etoile turned around to see Charlotte standing by with a bright smile on her face. "Just remember not to say Pirate and never follow an ambition to be a pirate. There are places where they can find out if your a pirate and will execute you."

"Thanks; maybe you can join up with us?" Charlotte asked.

"Me?" Etoile asked, surprised by her inquiry. "Uh...I really don't want to leave my friends behind. But perhaps they could come with me so that they could find a better place to live?" she added.

"Okay. I'll probably see you again in that town history says Black Leg Sanji met his doppleganger. Until then, ciao."

Etoile nodded, but suddenly, a thought came over to her, as she recalled using her abilities against Charlotte in a previous fight. "Wait...they'll stay behind in town, but I am more than happy to join you." she said.

"Is that so? Very well." Charlotte replied, nodding in agreement.

X_X_X_X

Frisk was having the effects of a hangover. Unlike a regretful teenager, he was reaching into the fedora hat for a flask of gin, rum, oolong tea, or even bourbon to drink.

"Come on you stupid portal device! I need a drink!" He yelled.

All he pulled out was bottles of water and books about overcoming alcohol addiction. Hardy, watching while eating berries, finally decided it was time to explain.

"The hat only deliveries what you need, not what you want. It's saying you need to quit drinking so much." He said.

Fritz grumbled, before he gave up as he leaned against a wall. The ship had begun moving, and was soon able to drop Etoile's friends at a safer location. When they paid their goodbyes to Etoile, they reminded her to send them something as a gift of sorts while she was with Charlotte and the others.

Charlotte was glad they finally had another girl onboard the crew. It went against her rules having more than three nakama with her, but then she realized with a Marine travelling around with them they would at least stand out as not associating with goons, cutthroats, and worst of all...pirates.

"So...where to, captain Charlotte?" Etoile asked as she looked out to check out the view of the sea.

"The village that now has flying machine races. I am going to compete there just for the hell of it."

"Sounds neat. I'm looking forward to that." Etoile replied with a grin.

Charlotte smiled back. And with that, the boat sailed off to the location of their choice.

It was a long boat ride. Charlotte used that time to write letters to her mom and dad and try to educate Etoile, Hardy, and Frisk who just snuck aboard.

"Say, who are you writing to?" Henry popped in and asked. "Just writing to my parents, especially about what happened at Thriller Bark." Charlotte replied

"You mean the location that we met Etoile and her siblings...or friends...or whatever they were? And those maniacs, too?" Henry asked.

"That's right." she told him.

"It's nice that you get to write to your parents. Military people haven't been that lucky since after Wolfgang Razi escaped an elite force of Marines led by my esteemed higher up."

"Dad said they were a bunch of amateur Marines who demolished a sanctuary for children and homeless. She's still in the Marines?"

"That's horrible! How could someone like that do such a thing?! I mean...I was cool with it at first, but upon joining you guys, I realized I was very much in the wrong." Henry told her.

"I'll say. That marine admiral Ava is a real piece of work. Never met her, but people are very catty about her."

"Agreed. Hopefully, someone could give Ava a piece of their mind." Henry replied with a nod.

"Hopefully, if that's ever possible." Charlotte replied, a small, confident smile on her face.

That smile went away when Charlotte had a menstrual cramp. She held her stomach and gasped painfully wishing she wasn't around Henry right now.

It wouldn't take long for him to leave, and as he left, Etoile heard Charlotte from not too far away, before heading into the room and asking, "What's going on?"

Charlotte breathed rapidly, shook her hips a little, and then stood up.

"It's nothing, I was just menstruating." She replied.

"Then I think you should get something useful for women if they're going through something like that." Etoile replied.

"Yeah...I might consider that. Thanks." Charlotte said.

Charlotte walked inside to see Frisk about to light a cigarette. She slugged him in the face.

"Take it on deck. I don't want my hull smelling like an ash tray."

"Alright, geez." Fritz replied, before heading off to the deck to have a cigarette. Charlotte sighed as she began to remember Etoile's advice. Hopefully, she wouldn't bleed her undies before or after their arrival.

The next few days was seeing Frisk change from useful to worthless. Most of the times he was worthless was after he smoked and drank.

As the ship eventually arrived, Charlotte took a glance at the seemingly unfamiliarity of the location in question. "Sounds like we're here!" Hardy exclaimed.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer**: I do not own One Piece

**I got stung by a wasp before publishing this chapter. I also see they are making more animated movies this year. Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this and thank you fans for inspiring me. Stay beautiful. **

X_X_X_X

Suddenly, something fast and loud flew over the ship's mast. Charlotte didn't get defensive, she cheered. It was a flying race.

"Come on, let's check it out!" she called out to the others. They were able to hear her commands, and they all exited the ship, hoping to check out the race.

Charlotte raced the fastest, nearly speeding past the race car.

"Hey, is there a race going on?" she asked.

"Yeah, but you gotta hurry to the stadium; we just started the first round!" a civilian replied.

"No way Charlotte's reckless enough to try seeing a race right now." Hardy told Henry. Immediately after, she ran into the stadium. "I stand corrected."

"Whoa, is this some kind of car race going on?" Etoile asked as she arrived alongside Charlotte. Hardy soon followed, then Henry and finally Fritz.

They were wrong. They weren't riding in a car, they were flying. They were flying in mechanical or living beings. It was a gathering of sky racers.

"It's sky racing, you dunce." Fritz told her.

"Really? I thought they were legit cars or something..." Etoile said, scratching her head.

Indeed, the vehicles were like mechanical planes. They weren't as huge as normal airplanes, but still...

They ascended, descended, swerved, went upside down, and even did loops. The raced in the lead was a handsome purple pompadour guy in bronze armor riding a brown griffon with a black underbelly.

Etoile's jaw dropped, and she couldn't help but be very attracted to him. "And not just plane-like vehicles, but bird-like vehicles, too!" Charlotte exclaimed, somewhat unaware of Etoile feeling as though she was ga-ga.

Frisk couldn't care less. If he wanted to he could move circles around these aviation racers.

The race so far was running smoothly, until the racer in the lead came into contact with a fellow racer, who happened to be using a mechanical equivalent of a motorcycle, and he was looking to steal the lead from him. The two racers attempted to try and bump each other out the race, but thankfully, the racer in the lead sped off, leaving the other racer in the dust.

Charlotte kept note of that move. It was a great way to show you weren't helpless without being a maniac.

Soon, it would be the last lap for everyone involved, and it was clear the racer with purple hair would become the victor.

That was until a thunderous roar made everyone shudder in fear and gasp. The purple racer crossed the finish line, but that roar still distracted everyone. What was it everyone wondered.

"What was that?!" Hardy asked. "Is that some kind of monster? Maybe a guardian beast?" Henry asked.

"I don't know." Frisk said. His hands were shaking while he was holding his cigarette. "All I know is if that thing can ride, everyone is going to want it."

"Stop smoking so much cigarettes." Etoile said. "Your going to get black teeth."

"Can't help it." Fritz told her almost bluntly, prompting Etoile to roll her eyes. As the racer in purple climbed off the mechanical griffon, he was flocked by his friends and teammates, as well as adoring female fans as he basked in his victory.

Charlotte though snuck behind him to get a closer look at his ride. Upon inspecting the griffon, she was impressed with how visually stunning it looked. Its head looked over at her, believing her to be unfamiliar, and nearly startling her.

Charlotte did the only thing she could think of, transform into her grey wolf form with dark blue eyes.

The griffon let out a low growl, indicating its indifference towards Charlotte's wolf form. "Hey, what are you doing trying to mess around with my griffon like that?" the racer asked, walking towards her.

She was about to growl and attack her when Etoile showed up. "Are you Jonathan Pardenelli?! I'm a huge fan of yours!" she exclaimed, causing Jonathan to look over with a raised eyebrow.

"Whyyyyyy...yes I am. It fills my heart with joy to met an adoring fan." He said.

Charlotte scattered away while he was distracted.

Etoile's eyes turned into literal hearts as she eagerly conversed with Jonathan, while Charlotte returned to the others. "So what happened?" Hardy asked.

In order to talk, Charlotte reverted back to her human form, and replied, "Well, I got a gander at the griffon vehicle of his, and Etoile is busy getting all flirty with Jonathan the racer for some reason."

"Amazing how you were able to get close to that griffon," Henry said. "If I wasn't a defective Marine, I would have charged you though for sneaking to see someone's property."

Charlotte shrugged, indicating that she could care less about being charged and such. As for Etoile, she was happy enough for Jonathan to provide her with an autograph, and as she came back to the others, she told them, "I got a feeling we might see him again soon...I hope."

"That's nice. Right now all I want to know is...is anyone here hungry?" Charlotte asked.

"I-I guess." Henry replied, shrugging.

"Well, we can all have lunch right about now and talk about how life was like before we became pirates." Fritz replied. "Even Henry, even though he's kind of not one like us." he added as he looked over at Henry, who nodded his approval.

"I'm not a pirate, your the captain. And play it cool, we have scanners fixed on us." Charlotte said.

Metal orbs with len's protruding out appeared before the group.

"Uh-oh, sounds like we got something that's onto us..." Etoile said, nearly suspecting the scanners.

The scanners zoomed in on the five of them. Most of them stood still with their mouths slightly agape except for Charlotte and Frisk. Frisk was praying and Charlotte was scratching her eye with her middle finger pointed towards the scanner.

"Ooh Lord, thank you for giving me absolutely nothing and taking everything away from me. And thanks for making me have to give a damn about these people because they might fail this test." Frisk chimed.

"Just what do they want from us?" Henry asked. He was clearly puzzled as to why the scanners showed up.

The scanners didn't make a sound. They just flew away after staring at them for what felt like a long time. After that intense moment, Charlotte had a suggestion.

"Now that it's over, let's eat."

"Yeah, let's." Fritz replied, and he was the first to leave, followed by Charlotte, Etoile, Henry and finally Hardy. They began searching for either a cafe or a pub, until they finally came across a friendly-looking cafe.

It had children wolfing down-no offence to Charlotte or Etoile-meat, fries, and potatoes.

The group got themselves an empty table, and Etoile asked, "I wonder as the what this place is called?"

"It's known as the Sunflower Diner." Charlotte replied as she looked over at the logo.

"Good job, Charlotte." Hardy congratulated. "Just remember not to eat so fast in here...given your lack of cheekbones and all."

"No way, she doesn't have normal sized cheekbones?" Etoile asked unusually interested. "I have small cheekbones too. I have to chew a hundred times just to get something small enough to swallow."

"Right..." Charlotte said, a small sweat-drop appearing on her head. "Anyways, let's find something on the menu and call for a waitress." she added.

Little did they know, their waitress was an undercover marine. A Marine not even Henry was acquainted with. This undercover Marine took over the waitresses duty since the scanners picked up an unlawful ambition in three of the five teenagers.

She walked out behind the sliding door, her hand massaging her ponytail, and she did her best to smile.

"How are y'all doing today?" She asked.

"We're doing fine, thanks a lot for asking." Charlotte replied.

"So, what would like to have today?" the undercover waitress asked.

" I guess I'll have cheese buns with your best venison." Charlotte said.

"Pasta for me with bits of lobster on top and garlic bread." Hardy said.

"Steak with vegetables on the side." Etoile said.

"The seafood platter with as much mussels as you can fit in one plate." Henry said.

"I want a glass of Bourbon." Frisk said.

"We don't sell alcohol here, sir."

"Alright fine, just some ginger ale." Fritz replied, rolling his eyes.

"Very good, I'll be right back soon with your food." the waitress replied, before she took off, leaving them alone at the table again.

Her plan started with the drinks. She kept a capsule in the front pocket of her apron. She poured the mashed up powder into their drinks. Odorless, tasteless, and dissolved into their drinks. Soon they would be vulnerable.

Making sure to get the food, she didn't use the powder on it. Eventually, once she had all their orders, she came back. "Thanks for waiting. Dig in!" she said, sporting a small smile. "Finally!" Charlotte replied with a grin.

"Don't mention it." the waitress said in a low voice, before walking out.

Charlotte took her glass ready to chug it down...when she saw a little chubby girl being bullied. She had a cone with meat on it, and three little boys threw her own food in her face. Charlotte, once a chubby girl like her, didn't sit down just to watch.

She called out to the three boys, "Stop it! You're making her cry!"

The trio looked at her, smarmy grins on their faces as one of them asked, "Oh? You trying to threaten us?"

"Threatening...no." She smirked. Her smile could make little boys shudder in fear. Her eyes bulged out and her teeth became feral. Now the boys faces were filled with blood turning cold. "I'M GOING TO EAT YOU!"

"Monster!" They screamed in unison.

Charlotte felt relief seeing the boys run away, but also regret for making a scene. She was suppose to be teaching her nakama to stay in the down low. Once they were gone, she endured the pain of three needles in the face to recover her original face.

Then she looked at the little girl. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She said, spitting the meat out of her mouth. "They do stuff like that a lot. I can handle them."

"Your strong." Charlotte smiled sincerely. Charlotte wasn't that strong when she was young and fat. "What is your name?"

"Glenn." She said. "It's my brothers name. Having a boys name is also a reason I get picked on."

"Well, Glenn, even if you get in trouble you should at least try to hit back on people picking on you. If bullies see your not helpless, they'll move onto the weaker one. And in ten years, if I come back here...please join a group of friends of mine who will treat you the way you want to be treated."

Charlotte stole napkins from the restaurant. She herself wiped off the meat sauce from Glenn's face.

"Thanks, miss." she replied, smiling back.

"No problem. You can call me Miss Charlotte if you want." Charlotte told her.

"Okay, miss Charlotte." Glenn said.

Charlotte left the girl to enjoy her meal back at the restaurant.

Though they were enjoying their food immensely, they were all blissfully unaware of the waitress having already snuck in a powder into their food.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer**: I do not own One Piece

**I managed to keep up with a person who has abs in running. I don't have abs but I try to make most of my characters have abs. Anyways, this chapter is mostly going to have Charlotte being threatened and meeting a new friend. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

Charlotte had eaten the least amount of food. Ergo, she would be the last to collapse.

Once they were all passed out, the waitress came back, and nodded in confirmation that the plan had worked. Charlotte heard loud voices but her eyes were as heavy as an avalanche.

"Have they arrived?"

"Yes."

"Good job, Lyria."

"Thank you."

Etoile and Hardy were dragged into a room just next to each other. Charlotte was placed on a futon on the floor, with her stomach churning from a circular metal object being pressed against her bellybutton.

"What's...what's going on? Where am I? Hello? Anyone?" Charlotte asked, looking around in order to check her surroundings. So far, she had stripped down to only her bra and undies.

She hoped to God whoever undressed her was female or she would break their teeth in. That thought was tested when a person did walk in...holding a musket pointed at her.

"Who the hell are you?" Charlotte asked, sporting a very angry expression.

"You can call me the Marine Sensei. Sensei stands for One Who Teaches. You have no ambitions to be a pirate, but your dark skin friend, your white shirt mate, and your other female friend do. Unless you want to have your heart shot out of your chest, you will do as I say."

"Why did you leave me and my friends in our underwear for?" Charlotte asked.

"We have provided you exclusive uniforms to wear." the Sensei replied.

"Okay, now why do you want us to work for you?" Charlotte told him. She could also hear the sound of Henry being beaten up.

"There is something we like more than lynching pirates and forming men and women from the crucible of Marine code. We like the races here. Most animals here aren't good for anything except sowing and the parts here wouldn't help a farmer much less a racer. And yet, I have a feeling that the creature that roars in this island would be a tremendous if not garguantuan asset to our corp in this race. You and your crew are going to find it, tame it, and make it our stead."

"On the topic of lynching, however, we are lynching one of your friends who turned out to be one of us, until we learned of his betrayal." the Marine Sensei added.

"Wait a minute, you found out about Henry working for us?!" Charlotte asked.

"Uh, he was in a restaurant with you guys. Although we like to unnerve your kind by telling you he was an undercover Marine the whole time, how do I put this, he's basically Sea King sloppy seconds and no one wants to be their sloppy seconds...not even the Kings themselves."

"Riight..." Charlotte replied, sporting a rather indifferent expression.

He moved his hand, stroking the finely furnished carved wood of the musket, before plunging it forward and back. He made sure she saw the hole the bullet comes out of.

"Enough of your unintelligible remarks. Your helping me find this Creature whether you like it or not!"

Most people would shout; others would get mad but not utter a word. Charlotte smiled. She made sure her waist jiggled like a snakes body standing up. When she was upright, she raised her left hand, finger right next to thumb jolted out, and in one rotation, she plugged the hole up.

"I'm not a nice person either."

The Marine Sensei just raised an eyebrow, sporting a rather annoyed grimace. "Is that so?" he asked.

Charlotte felt she was in control until the Marine's right hand latched onto her right arm and spun her out of the room. Once she was kicked out, she also felt a uniform land on her. Charlotte began taking a look at the uniform, and with a reluctant frown, began changing into it.

"Charlotte? You alright?" Fritz called out. She nearly froze upon hearing his voice, but thankfully calmed down. Charlotte had also noticed him wearing the same uniform as she was.

"So, their making us wear uniforms?" She asked.

Frisk held out a blanket. "And one of them is giving blankets to everyone."

"Dummy. We were knocked unconscious and dragged into a building. That is kidnapping and it's categorized as a traumatic experience. Something a blanket helps you get through, but you not seeming to have any empathy don't know about recovering from trauma."

This perplexed Charlotte, but let out a long, drawn out sigh as she realized that Fritz made a pretty good point. She ended up draping it onto her shoulders, before the others showed up. "What's going on? Did someone just kidnap us?" Etoile asked.

"Fritz told me we were, so yeah." Charlotte replied.

"But what happened to our clothes? They might have took them off our backs, and I'm certain my hat was one of them, too." Hardy added.

"You'll get your hat back after all of you tame that estranged behemoth out there." The man with the musket said.

"Fine." Charlotte replied. The others nodded in agreement at her words.

X_X_X_X

There were two things that were reminiscent of insects in two men in this building. That man holding the musket seemed to be followed by fireflies he kept hidden behind his buttock's, but hard to miss the glowing flames of insects. Another was a red afro haired male with a ball and chain the size of an apple around his left ear who seemed to have a wasp nestled in his earring and in his forest-esque afro.

"Ick..." Henry muttered.

"Sounds like these guys probably use bugs to help them fight, I guess?" Hardy asked.

"Besides those weapons, I believe so." Etoile replied.

Charlotte mumbled, "If that musket guy with the fireflies threatens me again, I will rip his arm off and spit it up and down like a seals toy."

She was relieved they managed to leave the base. No one looked back to see what it looked like, not even Henry.

"So they ordered us to take out the behemoth that they've been speaking of, right?" Charlotte asked.

"I guess." Henry replied with a nod. "Where could it possibly be, exactly?" he asked.

"That's what we are going to figure out." Etoile said. "And by take out...they want us to tame it."

Charlotte nodded, and the group began their trek to find the creature the Marine Sensei demanded they track down. What better way to find something big than to draw it out with something it can't refuse, meat.

"Luckily, they handed some meat to us, so that we can make this baiting thing a whole lot easier." Henry told them.

"Bait? Heh." Charlotte replied, sporting a small smirk as she took some of the meat out.

"Your not going to eat that, are you?" Hardy asked.

"Me? Who do you think I am; Monkey D. Luffy? I'm just going to bring this meat up high."

Eventually, they spotted it, and the creature was just slacking off until it smelled the meat that Charlotte and the others had brought with them.

It was quite gigantic, had brown fur all over it, a triangle-shaped nose, and big grey eyes. Charlotte made her approach, and she was almost close to the creature's face, when a tall man in a shrouding black cloak stepped up in front of it.

"Charlotte, leave her alone." He said.

"The heck I am. It's nothing personal, I was just threatened to do this. I'm not turning into a pirate like the Marines think I will."

Charlotte leaped forward, her claws extended to cut through the scales of the beast. Suddenly, the blunt front of a tonfa came out and jabbed into her shoulder. She was sent flying back by the force of the weapon.

"If your going to act tough at least think faster than your father. He could always easily evade my moves."

The beast growled slightly in pain at Charlotte's close attack. As for Charlotte, she looked up at the strange man and growled in anger. She slashed her claws at him. He dodged her by sticking his tonfa previously in the ground and jumping on it.

Charlotte was taken aback by the man's agility, until she felt him strike her with his weapon a couple of times. The others were surprised as to how he was guarding the beast with his own life.

"Ah, you have friends, Charlotte." He said. "I remember when Razi and I met again in Logue Town. He had four nakama like you: Daniel the dual swordsman, Momo the once petty thief with only a metal pipe, Jen the zombie sniper, and Jane the sadistic head chopping Skypien. He just found his first allies, the Blood Pirates."

" You know my dad?" Etoile shouted.

"Not really. The captain back then, Nathan, thought Razi was great until they had a falling out after he became King of the Pirates. With nothing left to do, I married my only two nakama and had five children with both my nakama for a total of ten children."

"Bigamy?! Now that's a little unexpected!" Hardy exclaimed.

"But the fact that kind of knows a bit about my father..." Etoile said, scratching her head.

"Of course I know. I was there when your father first met Razi. I was there when they fought the Admiral Five. I am after all your uncle, Charlotte. Call me Uncle Hesoi."

Charlotte made a growl out of shock, before reverting back to her human form. "Uncle Hesoi...I don't believe it!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise.

He removed his hood. Sure enough he was clearly human and had that same hairstyle her father had, smooth in the middle while spiky on top. He also had that smile only a playboy could have.

Charlotte ran up and hugged him, smiling back. This was enough to make the others happy and smile, too. "But, who's this strange creature looming above us?" she asked.

"Her? Penoria is your cousin, Charlotte. She used to be a girl like you, but like your father she was cursed and morphed into a creature. Her transformation though is a lot more mythical than a smelly wolf."

Charlotte's mouth gaped as she looked over at Penoria, looking down at her with an unexpectedly kind smile. "Mythical...I wonder..." she said, cupping her chin in thought.

"I have another child here, who overheard your tasked with finding the creature that could create that loud voice and tame it for the next race. How about you tell them you found it, but instead of spending your time teaching my daughter things she already knows, you train with me so you can hold your own in case a big and dangerous fight happens."


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**One of the things about Razi was he barely had any moments where he learns a lesson or actually does some training so he doesn't get pushed around. Charlotte will have to take that place. **

X_X_X_X

"Sounds reasonable; we'll take you up on that." Charlotte replied. "In fact, we got these uniforms after those Marines commanded us they locate and capture Penoria. Not to mention, they got Hardy's hat, too." she added.

"The Marines?!" Hesoi asked.

"Yeah. Remember how their boss slit Razi's threat but didn't kill him so she used all their resources to scan and study human behavior?" Hardy asked.

"I was not aware of that until now. In fact, the lot of you are pirates, not Marines, so chances you should give them an unpleasant surprise." Hesoi told them.

Charlotte grit her teeth. Being called a pirate brought back suppressed loathsome memories, but as far as Hesoi needed to know she would appear like a pirate.

"Of course, we'll try and betray the Marines. After all, they kidnapped us and it's time for payback!" she replied.

"That's the spirit! Perhaps Penoria will accompany you." Hesoi replied with a grin.

Charlotte walked up to Penoria so she could be better acquainted with her. Hesoi looked at her in an encouraging way.

Penoria petted her head, sporting a genuine smile on her face. Charlotte smiled back, and was able to tell her memories from her own past.

X_X_X_X

Years ago, Charlotte was nine years old, plump and short. She also had a big belly and worn frilly clothes. She was busy playing with Penoria, who was a human at the time.

Penoria was slender, had short blue hair in ringlets, and blue eyes. She often dressed in a more tomboyish style, too.

"My mommy and my other mommy say someday we are going to leave Water 7 and cross the Red Line." Penoria said.

"Wow. My dad never made it that far. He just settled down here with my common law not related to me mommy and sometimes his old crew. I like my uncle Momo, he's got spirit for someone in a wheelchair." Charlotte said.

Like most days, they were soon going to be approached by bullies.

Charlotte was walking across the street, going to use her play money to get an ice cream cone, when three of the meanest looking boys walked up. One had short red hair and grey eyes. Another had spiky black hair, black eyes, and the tallest of them. Finally, the last one had short blond hair and green eyes, and the exact same height as the red-haired boy.

"Well howdy there, our prized pig." the black-haired boy said.

She turned to them, her hands reacting trembling in fear, her eyes full of neither bravery nor cowardice, but her mouth was ready to goad these bullies before they made another step.

"Pigs aren't bad animals, they have good noses and can chew through the skin of fruit. Don't worry about me and my appetite, it's healthier than you seagulls."

The red-haired boy scoffed. "Oh, really? But you're still gonna keep eating, right?" he asked.

"I've seen pictures of your parents. Their the ones who looked like they couldn't control what they eat." She insulted back.

The bullies got mad. They went from verbal insults to running after Charlotte so they could do the most taboo thing a boy could do: hit a girl. The short blond hair one slugged Charlotte first.

An upset Charlotte clutched her face briefly, before running over to him, and ramming her fists into his chest. Her punch did nothing. Her arms just didn't have the muscle tone to hurt him.

"Is that the best you can do? Huh?" he asked her with a smirk.

Penoria, who was two years older than Charlotte, showed up to protect her. "Stop teasing her like that! How would YOU like it if someone teased you?!" she asked.

"Better teasing than killing someone. That's what my father taught me." He told Penoria.

He snapped his fingers. His two friends walked up to Penoria to beat her up for him.

Penoria tried to fight back, but it was too much, and once she was beaten up badly, the trio left. She grit her teeth as she looked at them with unshed tears in her eyes, with Charlotte looking over her with a smile.

"Thanks for standing up for me." she told her.

Penoria wiped the blood from her cut lip and used her might to stand up despite her bruised elbows.

"Don't mention it."

"Let's just go about our business...okay?" she asked. "I sure hope they don't come back." she added.

"Maybe..." Charlotte replied with a nod.

The business they were referring to was getting a tasty cone of ice cream with their pocket money.

Penoria ordered pistachio, while Charlotte had ordered cookies and cream. The two girls would then head back home, eating their ice cream and talking happily to each other.

"How is it our dads don't have any cool Devil Fruit powers but are still considered mighty pirates?" Charlotte asked.

"How is it we live in an island where that word doesn't earn you a ticket to the gallows? Life just happens for the strong hearted and fades away for the weak willed." Penoria answered.

Charlotte sighed as she looked up at the sky, shrugging in response.

"I won't be beaten up by bullies forever. Someday I'll be fit and intimidating to any man who wants to hurt someone. Doesn't matter if it's me or someone I don't like to see hurt." Charlotte philosophically.

Penoria smiled at her statement. "Me too; I wish to become a strong woman just like you would be." she told her with a smile.

Both girls didn't know what it would take to become strong. All they knew was if they wanted to be strong, this convenient strip mall downtown and their normal educational lives wouldn't help unlock that dream.

For now, both of them could only dream.

X_X_X_X

Charlotte was being watched by the beastly Penoria while she was ordered to train.

"Being a Marine sucks, it's time to go back to who me and my friends really are!" she told Hardy and the others.

Penoria nodded, and the others agreed with her. Hesoi smacked his hands so loud it felt like a cannon went off inside Charlotte's eardrums.

"Focus. I'm trying to help with your reflexes." He said.

"I know; I'm trying my best, okay?" Charlotte replied.

True to her word, she began to slowly but surely improve her reflexes, especially since her allies, Hesoi, and even Penoria were frequently encouraging her. But, Hesoi knew that in order to progress Charlotte to a worthy aptitude, she was going to need training in a proper land.

"I suggest we take you someplace to keep up with your training, Charlotte." he told her.

"Where are we going, exactly, Uncle Hesoi?" she asked.

"What better training than with your uncle, standing by your uncles side...going to battle on a warship...and getting to go there riding on the back of your cousin?"

"Sounds awesome!" Charlotte exclaimed with a grin.

The group would travel to exactly where Hesoi told Charlotte, Penoria and the others about. She smiled as she inspected her surroundings, and told him, "This looks like a pretty cool place to improve mine and the nakamas's skills."

"Good. Then you won't have a problem jumping from one branch to another. Wolfs jump from rocks to rocks in the forest, yours has to be more painful and harder of a lesson...because your special." Hesoi said.

"Jumping? Yeesh. Why do I need to learn that?" She asked.

"Some enemies strive at close combat while others are better at long distance. You need to evade with your footing."

Charlotte took a deep breath, and told herself to trust in her own gut and get ready. She'd then morph into her wolf form.

She had a hard time balancing herself while on the small branch Hesoi left her on. According to him, she had to fall on a branch the same size as this one a little below or she would have to do it again.

She made sure the others were quiet, or else they'd be making too much noise that wouldn't concentrate.

After a few attempts, Charlotte would finally land on the designated branch. She spoke for all girls dreaming to be a pirate captain when she said...

"That was way more exhausting than I'd like it to be!"

She said that just as she regained her human form. Hardy and the others cheered and applauded upon hearing her speak.

"How the hell did you four get here?!" She yelled acting very rude to the only friends she had. "I had to fly to get here."

"Well, we wanted to join up with you; Hesoi thought it would be wise for us to join you in training together." Hardy replied.

Charlotte sighed and shrugged, replying with, "Ugh. Okay, fine. Don't ask me why I suddenly overreacted to the lot of you."

"That's quite enough. Time for you to get into your focus challenge. Teehee." Hesoi teetered.

Charlotte wondered what all the excitement was for when he led her into a cave. He held out his hand saying "After you" to her. She walked in expecting him to follow her, but he closed the door on her.

She wondered what this challenge had to do with focus. It was at that moment a sliding door opened and a hissing sound filled the cave. Although it wad dark, something told Charlotte that sound was a snake.

'_Perhaps I have to avoid it to get to the cool-looking relic_,' she thought to herself.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece but it also doesn't own me

**Originally I was planning on making Charlotte enter the race and of course win because she's the captain, but spoilers that isn't what me and CuddlyChristina decided to do. Hope these new changes are to your liking. **

X_X_X_X

"The Amethyst Snake is prettier than any other snake in the wild, but her bite is the most lethal out of all the others. That's not saying much considering any snake bite can kill you. Try to spend two minutes with her without being injected by her bite."

"If you survive, you'll be given a small but meaningful reward."

Charlotte stared at the snake. All her instincts said to hit the snake, but that was just her total asinine thinking in the face of death. She began to make sure to avoid its attack, narrowly dodging its attempts to eat her, or even poison her, or perhaps petrify her into an amethyst statue.

Charlotte tried showing her sharp teeth and Predator eyes, but this was mere provoking the snake. The snake moved off the ground in blinding speed and hissed directly into Charlotte's face. However, the snake just stayed there hissing while Charlotte was scared but didn't flinch.

She had been already dodging its moves from time to time, until it would eventually, and very nearly, bit her. However, it stopped the moment it tried to do so.

"Charlotte, stop playing in the dark and come out. I already opened the entrance for you." Hesoi told her in a way that made him sound like he didn't care about her.

The snake was none other than a child of Kaya's, and loyal to Razi and even Hesoi. It growled out of frustration as it began to slither away.

Turning back into her human form, Charlotte asked, "Really? It's finished?"

"Yes. You didn't pass your first try. If the snake wasn't loyal to any member of Razi's family it would have already killed you. So, now you have to do another training session just to pass that one."

Charlotte shrugged and replied, "Okay, then. Lay it on me."

Hesoi whistled with his fingers in his mouth. In no time at all, his daughter approached Charlotte looking more menacing than she did a few minutes ago.

"Look at my daughter. When she sees your spirit can't be stopped by the idea of death, you can go back into that cave."

Penoria clenched her fists out of anger and annoyance, and Charlotte could only comply as she went back into the cave. So there she was again, staring into the eyes of the poisonous snake. But this time, she was ready to make the creature tremble in fear.

The snake so far was sticking its tongue in and out. It was swaying its head to try to make Charlotte lose her focus.

Charlotte, though, just walked up to it, noticing it flinch. She ran a hand across its scaly body, prompting it to let out a purr-like noise of approval.

"That's a good poisonous snake. That's a good reptile. Whose happy? Your happy."

She smiled as the snake was equally as happy as her. "Come to think of it, are you hungry? Maybe I can find something for you to eat." Charlotte asked.

The snake coiled around her arm and purred like a cat as Charlotte walked out to get food. She was able to locate some food, and checking to make sure it was edible, returned to the snake to feed it.

The snake chewed on it like a dog eating kibble. Charlotte grinned broadly, impressed as to how she'd tame the Amethyst Snake on her very own. Hesoi also showed how impressive he thought that was by clapping his hands.

"Very good, Charlotte! You must have put in a lot of effort there!" he exclaimed as he allowed her out of the cave.

Charlotte wasn't three steps out when Hesoi thrust his palms in her direction.

"Now I want you to face me again."

"So I get to finally challenge you? Awesome, bring it on!" she exclaimed with a very confident smile.

She attacked with great intensity in her shoulders, by slugging her uncle. But, what she hit was only his palm stretched out.

"Your palms are really _that_ strong! Almost like that of castle walls!" she exclaimed.

"Thank you. I could tell you my secret, but it involves two wife's who feel the need to hit me."

She leaped in the air and delivered a hi jump kick to Hesoi's face! Her uncle though moved his head out of her way before pressing his neck down on her feet. Charlotte was surprised as to how her uncle was quite resilient in combat, and she could even tell he was very skillful. Though she needed to persevere if she could finish the challenge.

"Your not very good at throwing your punches. I remember how your mother and father punch and they were close to demons with their fists. Maybe you get that slow side from your biological mother."

Indeed, Charlotte bit her lower lip as she recalled Eiza being slow when it came to punching.

"It's okay. This is why I'm here. To test if you can reach limits even your parents couldn't."

Charlotte nodded, before she got back into her stance, and decided to kick at him. He responded bending over and dodging the kick. Charlotte was getting tired of not hitting him, but what could she do against someone clearly with better reflexes than her?

'_Dammit,'_ she thought to herself. '_Is there a way for me to defeat him?' _

She hit him with great intensity only to be blocked. He hit her with punches that have no intensity, but it hurt like hell all over her body. She grit her teeth, trying hard to try and shrug off the pain inflicted on her, and keep moving forward.

Hesoi looked at her breath heavily from the blows. She looked like she would collapse, but her stubbornness was keeping her going. It was like Hesoi when he tried beating his adoptive father Marco.

Despite his efforts, Marco was no match for him. Charlotte tried slugging her forty-first punch...and she collapsed after her punch was blocked by his hand.

Hesoi was very much in awe, as was Hardy and the others. He ran over to Charlotte and helped her up, telling her, "You've got a lot of guts, I'll give you that!"

"I still have no chance of beating you, do I?" She said before coughing.

"Although I don't want to discourage you, this is me holding way back. But your still a better trier than your father was at your age." He replied.

Charlotte couldn't help but smile at his words, and as he helped her up, Hesoi smiled back.

X_X_X_X

A few days passed and Charlotte finally returned to the Marine base.

"So, have you completed your mission?" the Marine Sensei asked.

Charlotte and the others, however, were silent.

He was a patient man. He just gave them some time to give a proper answer while he filled out a form on his desk.

"No." Charlotte finally replied.

"No? Does that mean you didn't capture her and just let her escape? Or were you just too scared to carry out your objectives?" he asked.

"Yes to both. The creature wasn't found so there's no point in keeping us around." Charlotte replied.

"Have you been eating like a pig or dog while I let you off. I guess your more dogs than pigs since your my slaves."

Charlotte just gave him a stern expression.

"But since your my slaves, I won't have you being grouchy from hunger. Go to our cafeteria."

Charlotte nodded silently, and she and the others would travel to the cafeteria in order to eat. Alongside the way, Marines stared at them with hatred and grasping their weapons. Regardless, though, Charlotte made sure she and the others would just ignore them, even as they ate.

"Your a bad girl. An abomination to the Four Blues." A marine sang to the group.

Etoile looked at him, stared at him with cold eyes like they were on a date, and gave him the middle finger.

"Yeah, try and taunt, bitch. Like we care at all." another Marine replied.

"Do you guys think we can find a way to turn the tables on them?" Hardy asked his friends.

"I can help." Frisk said. "I'm sober today and have a lot of energy to use on people."

"That reminds me, what are your powers anyways?" Hardy asked.

"I thought you'd never ask." Fritz replied, before he demonstrated his powers.

All of the soup froze, the chefs leaped as the ovens burst with fire, and all the napkins were floating while the forks were bending.

"Think of it as psychic powers, only I'm really controlling a small atomic force you'd have to be microsize to see."

Charlotte and the others were simultaneously surprised and mesmerized by this. Surprisingly, Henry was the most bewildered, as his eyes widened the most.

"You mean you can control the whole world with your mind?" He asked bewilderingly.

"Heck no. Just enough to destroy an island...maybe."

"Sounds like you got a pretty good sort of ability to help us out." Etoile replied.

"Agreed." Charlotte added.

"Heads up. Captain of this base is heading right for us. You'd think he'd at least give us a meal he promised us." Henry warned.

"Well, sounds like he might give us another one of those verbal beatings." Fritz replied.

"Oh, really?!" a voice called out.

Fritz immediately quiet down since whoever said that was very intimidating.

Even worse, it was none other than the aforementioned captain himself. "So, you punks obviously want out, huh?!" he asked them.

"We were never in to begin with, blackmailer." Etoile remarked. "Also, do we just line up for food or is food contend to us?"

"You just get in line to have food, wench!" he replied. Etoile took wind of what he called her, and felt as though she was threatening to attack him, much like the others were.

"Do all of you just get in wars everyday or did you just forget to have fun?" Henry asked. "Marineford was cheerier than this."

"Marineford what?!" the captain asked, blinking in confusion.

"Don't act dumb." Charlotte replied. "You know what we are talking about."

Even though he was still perplexed, he was also unaware of Charlotte and the others just about to strike.

"Just eat your food and win that damn race. Whether you have what I asked for or not, you are going to race and win, and when you win you'll say the Marines helped you win. Capeesh?"

Letting her guard down, Charlotte sighed, before she and the others began eating as he commanded them to. For some reason his eyes were on Charlotte's legs which irked her him ogling them.

"How many miles do you run a day?"

"Excuse me? Are you trying to flirt with me for something?" she asked.

"No. Just seeing how well those legs can handle pedals." He said.

Charlotte scoffed, a bit embarrassed at his statement, before she resumed eating.

He didn't say another word about her legs. He just stared at his cadets who were waiting for his signal to imprison everyone in Charlotte's group besides her.

"After that, all of you will be incarcerated for failing to fulfill your duties." he added.

The crew finished and walked out of the cafeteria, the loudmouth man following behind them.

They would eventually be put into separate cells, and once the captain left, this left the group to start talking.

"Hey! Hey, guys. Can you guys hear me?" Charlotte shouted.

Hardy and the others would instantly recognize her voice, and Hardy was the first to ask, "Yeah we do! You wanna bring something up?"

"I actually wasn't talking to you guys. Guard!"

A young man with blond hair and an electric thingamajig walked up to Charlotte's cage. "What is it, filth?"

"I think I hear something on the roof."

Before the guard could zap Charlotte, he heard an uproar taking place upstairs. His instincts of the prisoners not being able to escape and his allies need him made him dash upstairs.

"Now that we have this alone time, I am going to try weaseling my way to the boss when he sees my cousin on the roof. But don't worry, my uncle will only make the marines think your in cells. It's a good thing I have this cousin whose good with illusions."

"Is that so? Well, we're looking forward to getting out of this shithole." Fritz replied.

Charlotte did a backflip on the cell bars. As her back leaned into the door, the door slide open.

"Now we're ready." she said, before looking towards and the other cells, and taking her time helping him finding a way to set her nakama free.

First she transformed into her wolf hybrid form and then she released her sharp claws on her fingers. She growled as she looked around to see if there were any enemies rushing into the jail.

There were no enemies; seemingly because they were all going after that noise.

With that aside, Charlotte took care pulling at bars horizontally, making sure that they were hopefully large enough for them to escape. It was small enough for Henry to escape since he was so scrawny.

Locating some keys, he'd then unlock the doors, allowing everyone else to exit. "So, where to?" he asked.

"Well, we've got to get our clothes back, including my hat." Hardy replied.

"Leave that to me." Etoile said.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Well Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I eventually got done working my real job and decided to return to this job before writing becomes my real job. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

She would then take off, with the others serving as backup, so that they could locate their actual belongings and such.

She used her werewolf nose to smell her shoes since she hasn't washed her feet.

Her nose picking up her dirty shoes actually worked. Soon, she was in a room with all the confiscated items. Quickly getting her hands on all the clothes, she signaled everyone else into the room.

After reverting back to her human form, Etoile then handed each of them their particular garb, including Hardy's prized hat. They took their time changing back in their outfits, and once they were all done, they were ready to go.

Charlotte and her nakama would then travel towards the rooftop, and they'd discover a few Marines dealing with a familiar creature. The creature happened to be Penoria, who would give the signal to attack the enemies.

Charlotte rushed towards her cousin, grabbed her by her hindlegs, and spun around to surprise the Marines before landing her foot in their faces.

The first kick was easy. Kicking the next Marine was simple raising her long leg up before he could unsheathe his cutlass.

A third Marine noticed his ally down, before he attempted to attack Charlotte and Penoria.

Suddenly, a small speck exploded making the Marine flinch. It wasn't one of Charlotte's crew members doing that. She turned to the exit and saw the boss.

"That beast, make it roar, girl." He said.

She smirked, before she said, "Don't mind if I do."

Charlotte talked in gibberish to Penoria. What she said didn't mean anything, but Penoria roared like the Marine wanted. All of the Marines fell for the farce that Charlotte tamed her.

She would then charge right after the boss, Donna. Penoria thrust her fists into her, hoping to score a beating on her.

Too bad for her though the firefly guy swarmed her with fireflies. This time they made irritating noises.

"Wrong command. I just wanted this thing to roar. I want to see if I heard its roar before or not."

"Whoops, sorry." Jose replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Charlotte sighed. She once again talked to Penoria in gibberish. This time Penoria roared like the Marines wanted her to. This time...the Marines were quiet.

"I suppose she doesn't want us to be harming the girl accompanying this thing?" a marine asked Donna.

Penoria huffed out her nostrils before lowering her long neck into Charlotte's reach.

Charlotte carefully got on top of her, and Penoria would then swat at a few marines with one of her fairly large hands.

Jose planned this. He put exploding fireflies on his Marines. These blasts nearly knocked Penoria and Charlotte down to the ground.

A Marine tried grabbing Charlotte by her shoulder, but out of her shirt sleeve a set of fangs on a slithering ally sneered at him.

She blinked in surprise upon notice, wondering as to who swooped in to help her and Penoria.

Turns out it wasn't a someone but a something. It was the snake that could inject fatal venom with its fangs.

As the Amethyst Snake slithered from her shirt, it went towards one of the remaining Marines. It would sink its fangs right into him, causing him to fall to the ground and find death at his door.

Charlotte didn't think this fight would end in death.

She watched as the snake returned to her, coiling itself around her neck. Penoria was even bewildered as to how it showed up in combat with them.

Charlotte's instincts told her to jump to the left. She sprung like the ground was on fire. The ground soon was lit on fire by an exploding insect.

It was Jose's fireflies that caught them by surprise, as he simply grinned by saying, "Let's see how you can handle playing with fire."

Charlotte felt her eyes moving fast and her palms sweating. If she had some of her mother's abilities, she and Penoria could possibly outsmart them.

"That's it! Abilities!" Charlotte shouted. She just remembered her seastone weapons.

Taking them out, she was ready to attack her enemies alongside her cousin.

Jose backed up a little when Charlotte revealed she had seastone onhand. It wouldn't take long for it to come into contact with the fire, cooling the area to his shock.

He knew his fireflies didn't have any chance of hurting her now.

Seastone sword in hand, Charlotte jumped off of Penoria, and watched as Jose took out his sabre. However, it seemed possible that the seastone would be enough to subdue him instantly.

His swings were slow and not very intense, maybe due to seastone weakening him.

"You're not so tough now that I've neutralized the hell out of you." Charlotte said with a grin. She would swing at him, giving him precise strikes, and allowing him to nearly sink to the ground in defeat.

Jose felt less like a boss and more like a bug who fell off his perch spot.

"Hmph. I've expected a lot better from you." Donna said, angrily crossing her arms.

"Good, I beat the guy who blackmailed me into a race-not saying I wouldn't have been excited racing. I just I don't do things because someone makes me do it." Charlotte sheathed her weapon. She made eye contact with the smug woman named Donna. "Now who are you and where the hell did you come from?"

"Oh, I just happen to work as a fellow Marine." Donna replied. "Not to mention, I've heard a bit about how you and your friends have betrayed us."

"Don't look at me, my mother was the one who betrayed the Marines, I'm just her stepdaughter. And before Henry betrayed you he helped save a town from cult monster summoners, which is your job to deal with so...your welcome." Charlotte replied.

Donna scoffed. "Is that so?" she asked with a snarl.

Charlotte had her sharp claws out while Donna ordered her men and women with her hands to back away. It was a big boss versus captain fight.

Taking out what appeared to be a whip-sword hybrid, Donna noticed as to how Charlotte had morphed into her wolf form. Charlotte made the first move, charging for her and clawing her on one of her thighs.

Donna looked at it, pursed her lips together, and then didn't react when a red light came out. That light vanished after she swung her blade Flinch would use if he was still alive.

Charlotte was hit by the whip-blade, earning a mark on one of her shoulders. Donna stood there after inflicting the hit and rolled up her weapon.

However, she was ready to attack again when Charlotte narrowly dodged her strike, and clawed at her a few more times.

Donna felt what felt like three wasp stings in her wrists.

"How dare you...?!" she muttered, before attempting to attack Charlotte again.

Charlotte felt like her opponent's jabs were too slow because she had good training with Hesoi.

Though she got a hit, Charlotte fought back, even going so far as to sinking her fangs into one of her shoulders. That prompted Donna to grit her teeth in pain.

That didn't faze Donna too much as she soon grabbed Charlotte's fangs and squeezed. Charlotte growled at Donna's attempt at yanking them out.

But Donna still was bleeding blood from her shoulder. She wound up clutching her wound, which was enough for Charlotte for to mercilessly claw her in the face.

Donna used this pain to grab Charlotte by the foot and flip her over.

Donna hardly had enough to time to see what the transformed wolf girl would do to her. Charlotte then took out her seastone sword, and jammed it into the middle of her throat.

'_She should be dead after that. No one could survive a seastone sword to the throat.' _

Charlotte morphed back to her human form, and saw that Donna was now dead. She also noticed Penoria coming over towards, giving Charlotte a smile.

All her other nakama were stun and speechless. Surrounding them were Marines thirsty for blood.

"Get that wench and that beast!" one of the Marines exclaimed. Before Charlotte and Penoria could do anything, though, their nakama soon became alert.

Hardy slowly morphed into a plushie looking human size pink bubblegum before bouncing in front of his captain and her cousin.

"What the hell is this? Some kind of blob?" one Marine asked in confusion.

Frisk also helped out using his powers to create blinding exploding dust particles in the Marines eyes.

Most, if not all of them, had their vision temporarily blinded by the particles. Etoile also began to use her blood manipulations skills, as well.

She used her claws when a Marine fired a bullet. Stray it was, accurate to her cheek it wasn't.

She would then charge at him, her claws slashing right through his torso.

Last was Henry, the weakest of the crew, unsheathing his own saber against another Marine.

His opponent also drew his own sword, and the duo would often parry, trying to see who would finally make the hit. After several tries, Henry slashed and stabbed at one of his numerous former associates.

Henry flinched with regret hurting the Marines just following orders.

"I'm sorry..." he said with genuine remorse. "Why...are you helping them?" the wounded Marine asked.

"Because I'm tired of all this bloodshed." Henry replied.

"You fucking idiot. She's killed five of us on this roof." Those were the Marines last words before collapsing dead on the ground.

Henry felt his teeth chatter as he stepped away from him, heading towards Charlotte and the others.

Charlotte pulled him in even though her eyes were fixated on the stairs because below the floors were rumbling.

"Follow me!" she exclaimed, and with that, Henry and the others followed her lead downstairs. It was unclear if Penoria would follow them down, though.

She didn't. Instead, she followed the sound of a whistle blow clearly her father Hesoi.

Temporarily splitting from Charlotte and the others, Penoria headed out to locate where Hesoi and his whistle-blowing was.

Not far from the base, there was a man who created a two wheel metal machine that could move faster than a horse.

He briefly spotted Penoria, before bringing his attention to the mutiny on the Marines's base.

And while distracted by that mutiny, Charlotte hopped on his bike and put her feet on the pedals. Her feet were actually making the machine move.

"Hey, who are you? And what are you and your friends doing here?" the man asked. "We just needed a ride out of here. We've detected one of my nakama heading towards a familiar face of mine." she replied.

The machine finally moved, but Charlotte abruptly stopped it. She didn't know why but her conscience was telling her to try communicating with this man-conscience's didn't deviate or make sense, they explain right from wrong.

"Dammit, this thing won't work!" she exclaimed out of annoyance.

"It does work. Although, that's mine and I don't know why your driving it."

"Well it basically starting moving and I suddenly stopped it from out of nowhere." Charlotte replied.

"That's because you put your foot on the gas then took your foot off of it. What your on is a two wheeled horse with the power to move and not move, no reigns and no will of its own. Now get off my machine and lea-"

Charlotte disobeyed him putting her foot down and letting the machine zoom out of his shop.

"Hey! Come back!" he exclaimed. "I haven't even finished yet!"

Charlotte would soon catch up with Hardy and the others, and she suggested that they'd find Penoria and Hesoi.

"Didn't Hesoi say he was only there to protect his daughter not join his nieces crew?" Hardy asked.

"Well...I guess only Penoria. Considering she's already waiting for us." Etoile replied, prompting the others to nod in agreement.

The crew would soon be able to find Penoria, who had briefly encountered Hesoi.

There she was in her beast form, trying to smile in an unpleasant looking way.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Merry Christmas Day. I don't have any recent Christmas chapters but I do have one Christmas chapter in one of my other fanfictions. Thank you CuddlyChristina and happy holidays. **

X_X_X_X

The group would then take off in order to resume their adventures. However, when the next day came, it was clear that Charlotte and her nakama were obtaining very high bounties. For instance, Charlotte herself was about two million bellis.

"I only asked for three things and because no one listens to the _captain..._ I am going to die just so someone can become very rich."

Charlotte knew she couldn't say this was unseasonable since she killed someone.

"I feel like I've let myself down." she said, hanging her head in shame.

"I don't think you've did." Hardy replied with a consoling smile.

"Oh really? And how big is your bounty, Mr. Pacifist?"

"Oh, geez. I dunno, about 150 million belis?" Hardy asked, biting his lower lip out of nervousness.

Charlotte's jaw just dropped at the sound of that big number.

"Are you shitting me?! If that _is_ true, I am just floored!" she exclaimed.

"I'm just as surprised as you. I didn't kill a single person there."

"I bet the rest of us have bounties...and for me, it's gonna be capture and a lot of lynching!" Henry added, his teeth chattering.

Etoile hit the mast with a bloody fist.

"Shit! Now what?!" she asked.

Frisk looked around waiting for one of them to come up with a solution. When no one did, he did.

"We do what your parents did, Charlotte. We keep sailing looking for allies and resources just like the Strawhats did. And best of all, cigs and booze."

Charlotte couldn't help but smile. "That sounds pretty good...we'll do it, all of us!" she exclaimed.

The crew didn't cheer for her or even bother putting on a smile. They didn't have a reason to be excited on this new adventure.

"Are you sure about that? Why are you so optimistic for anyway?" Hardy asked.

"Yeah, we're not doing it just so we can get tickled in the end!" Etoile added.

"Anyways, we sail and hope where we go doesn't end up in a two year time lapse estranged from one another." Frisk finished.

Charlotte nodded. "Agreed." she said, along with the others.

Soon everyone got to see their wanted posters, their titles, and their bounties. They kept bickering about it till nightfall.

"I still can't believe it, Charlotte has the highest bounty of us all!" Etoile exclaimed.

Well of course she's going to have a high bounty," Henry interjected. "She's the captain of this vessel."

"And since we checked them, it looks like you probably got the lowest of them all." Fritz replied.

"Exactly!" Henry said. "I don't even know why!"

"Guess being a former Marine means you won't ever be lynched or proved to be a traitor of your own base." Etoile said.

"Hopefully..." Henry said, a relieved sigh escaping his lips.

Not too far away from the boat, the same blue haired girl who manipulated Herbert to attack Charlotte in her own home was in a small rowboat doing calculations on a calculus.

"And the five of them have character points of...0.5. Wow, what a bunch of lame characters." She teetered.

She frowned in disappointment as she could slightly see them from a distance. She couldn't write what would happen to them, but she had a word she would enact on them: revenge.

Her frown soon turned into a grin almost instantly at the thought.

The next day, Charlotte went down to the hull where she stored her two wheeler.

She sighed as she told herself, "Hopefully, we'll be able to get our boat back. If it's ever possible that is."

Charlotte learned absolutely nothing about the machine and surfaced to find Etoile high in the mast.

"You're being a little light-headed lately; probably from being formerly cooped up with the Marines." she told her.

"Yeah...I don't understand why I was so super-cheerful yesterday." Charlotte replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well I'm not a psychiatrist. All I can say is the best way to forget about your troubles is by reading a book."

"Sounds reasonable." Charlotte replied, before heading into the boat to find a book at the library.

She of course forgot that being on a ship they didn't have many books. Despite a small supply of books, Charlotte didn't care much. She was the only crewmate who wasn't acting like books were monsters.

Then, she saw a book with a black cover and two golden lines etched on the ridge.

Out of curiosity, she walked over to it, picking it up in her hands. Charlotte had wondered if this book was magical or not.

Suddenly, her ship stopped sailing. It seemed that they hit a rock in the water.

She went back to the surface. Turns out they did hit something, but it wasn't a rock...it was a train. A train made of silver alloy.

"What the...?!" she asked.

"Holy crap, there's a freakin' train underneath our ship!" Henry exclaimed.

That train resurfaced making everyone on Charlotte's ship jump. Etoile was the first one to go near the train other than just questioning its existence.

"So how did it get under the ship? That's what I wanna know." Etoile asked the others.

"Why don't you just ask them?" Fritz said blatantly. "There's people in there."

Etoile shrugged before taking a peek into the windows, as did Charlotte and Hardy. They saw an overweight elderly man with a purple nose waving at them.

"Hello! Would you mind asking me where we are?" she asked in a warm voice.

No sooner did she ask, a violet haired lady in a kimono walked out.

"Excuse me, but I was going to ask that same question. But I will ask you this: judging by your clothes, are you outlaws?" the woman asked Charlotte and the others.

"So what if we are. Are you going to hand us in for our bounties."

The girl covered her mouth to laugh a little. "No. My name is Yukino and this train belongs to my father."

"Yukino Hikawa?! Daughter of Senichiro Hikawa, the Train Grandmaster?!" Charlotte asked.

"Indeed I am. Would you like to see the interior of my father's train?"

"Um...sure. Why not?" Charlotte replied, shrugging her shoulders. The others ended up agreeing with her, indicating their willingness to comply.

Charlotte led the way followed by Hardy, Henry, Etoile, and finally Fritz.

"I can tell this train is pretty...high-class." Fritz said.

"I'm glad you like it; sounds like you do have good taste in style." Yukino replied with a smile.

"Well back when I was a teacher, the girls would get on a train not nearly as luxurious. It was thanks to cooperation with the Frankie Family."

"The Frankie family? Who are they?" Henry asked, blinking in curiosity.

"Don't you know your history?" Charlotte chuckled. "Frankie was the shipwright of the Strawhat Pirates and his family were his old team of shipwrights."

"Oh, yeah...why didn't I forget that?" Henry said, scratching the back of his neck as he slightly chuckled.

They passed by a blond haired boy with a straw yellow yutaka working on a small drill fit in a glove.

"Excuse me, but who are you? Did Miss Yukino send you here or something?" he asked.

"No. We just came here on our own." Etoile replied.

"Really? And from the looks of it, you must be a group of pirates!" he told them.

"Pirates!? How'd you guess?" Hardy asked.

"We've been living in the Pirate Era eighty years since Gol D Rogers was killed, and every twenty years some new Pirate King rises up and makes commonfolk and dreamers think they should be pirates. Your teenagers, the basis of all pirates."

"Sounds like someone must have been researching a lot on our kind." Charlotte said with a grin.

"And if we're lucky, we could pretty much be the next big thing." Etoile added.

They all had their fingers crossed.

"Anyways, why did this train get under our boat?" Charlotte asked.

"It has the capability to move underwater and you were in our way." Yuki answered.

"An underwater train?!" Charlotte said, her eyes widening in surprise, as were the others.

"Oh, yes, it's underwater alright." Yukino told her with a smile.

"It was amazing enough when they made a train that could keep monsters away, but this just blows my mind." Charlotte said.

As they were talking, a passenger with something strange glowing in their chest quietly stood up and left. This strange thing made Henry a little curious.

"Excuse me, but what's that fellow doing in the train? There's something strangely glowing in the center of their body and I wonder what it is." he asked Charlotte and the other pirates.

"Did you say glowing chest?" The blond boy asked running frantically out of his room.

"What? Did I say something unexpected?" Henry asked.

"I think something's really fishy around here. What if there's more of these...people?" Charlotte said as she looked around.

Later that day, the crew were allowed to eat, talk, and investigate the train in the sea.

"So one of your friends brought up something in particular?" Yukino asked.

"Yes, that's correct. There seemed to be someone odd walking around this train. I don't know who it is, but Henry has been nagging us about looking for them." Charlotte replied.

"My brother here was able to get a glimpse of him." Yukino said, pointing towards the blonde boy, whose name was Mikio, and that very same boy who flinched upon hearing of the strange creature inside the train.

"This person was tall, brawny, buzzcut, and strangely enough seemed to have an emerald embedded in his chest and no irises."

"Sounds like a very good description to me. We'll be on the lookout for him and possibly more of his kind." Charlotte told Yukino with a smile.

"Indeed, you will." she replied.

Charlotte didn't like the way she ordered her around.

_' Cheeky,' _she thought to herself. She looked over at Hardy and the others, and said, "Sounds like we got someone to deal with. Let's move!"

Charlotte moved in front followed by Henry, Etoile, Hardy, and Yukino. Fritz wasn't even in the line.

"I wonder what these particular creatures are after?" Yukino asked Charlotte. "I don't really know. We'll just have to find out ourselves." she replied.

"Before we talk about these creatures, could you fools at least find one first." That was Fritz. He made his way around the corner, armed with a gauntlet with a spike on it.

"Excuse me, but where'd you get that?" Henry asked, pointing at Fritz's weapon.

"I took it from that blond kid. I don't need your improvement on this, your teenagers and I'm a professor."

"Make sure you bring it back!" Mikio called out. "Oh, don't worry; I will, trust me." Fritz replied.

"I'm not even a teenager!" Henry exclaimed out of annoyance.

Fritz's roiling on his nakama was interrupted by the sight of red in Mikio's eyes. Shortly after seeing his eyes, he heard numerous sounds of charging feet through the train.

"Did you hear something?!" he asked.

"It might be obvious that it's coming from that creature." Hardy replied.

Hardy was right. A swarm of colorful, zombie looking people with gems in their chests ran through the halls; pushing and shoving with ferally wide mouths.

Yukino gasped, and Mikio almost flinched in terror. Not to mention almost the people in their seats screamed in fear as they rose from their seats. Charlotte and her nakama, however, were unfazed.

Fritz surprised everyone twirling his hand around the needle in his arm. With just his touch, the needle turned red and soon launched out breaking through three of the monsters' gems.

The three monsters hit the floor, apparently having their lifeforce sucked out thanks to Fritz's actions.

Charlotte unhooked her claws from her pocket, and her face started to go wild in the form of a scary wolf, but before she could attack the monsters...Yukino jumped over her with a completely black katana in her hands.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**I don't think I got to post this chapter on Christmas, maybe Boxing Day. I was in a rush to edit and post it. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

Unsheathing her weapon, Yukino charged right for one of them, delivering a slew of quick slashes to him. Another attempted to attack her, but was caught off-guard and was stabbed in the torso.

Problem was, the ones she slashed were hardly damaged. Although she was skilled with a blade, it didn't matter when she knew nothing of her enemies. She would be chewed by the neck if Hardy didn't jump in in the form of a bear gummy. His whole body was chewed on, mauled at the neck and his right arm, but now made out of bubblegum the bites didn't even hurt him.

"That's your transformation...? Odd, but interesting..." Yukino said when Hardy took the bites for her. "If they bite, do they suck blood or something?" Henry asked.

Hardy didn't answer. He reached his unbitten bubblegum paw on his hat. With his hat, he pulled something out. To his surprise, it was a wooden stake.

"A stake? What for?" Etoile asked.

Hardy knew what it was for, he morphed his arm back to a human's arm and drived the stake through the heart of one of the feral beasts.

It let out a piercing scream, before it dissolved into small, tiny jewels, to Hardy and the others's surprise. Yukino started to retreat.

"Everyone retreat for your lives!" She shouted.

"Wait! What about the people that were traveling?!" Charlotte asked.

Charlotte got her answer from the sound of a submarine crew member being pushed down and bitten by two of these creepy things.

"You sure they're coming with us? Or are we just going to leave them behind?" Henry asked, his teeth chattering in fear.

"For the love of fuck!" Fritz yelled, tired of the complaining his sentimental nakama had. With one click of his legs, he sped towards the monsters and stabbed them with his automatic nail gun. They turned into gems. "There, I killed three of them. Now move your whiny ass before more show up!"

Charlotte nodded along with the others, before following Yukino and Mikio out of the train. Fritz stared at the crew minus a few unnamed workers who were bitten ferally by the creatures.

"Took you dolts long enough." he said to them once they found safety. "So now what? Do you think we should find a way to stop those goons?" Mikio asked.

"Hell yeah." Charlotte cheered.

"Would you assholes give me a minute to catch my breath?" Fritz barked. "I'm too sober to be running around like this."

"Ugh...one of you pirates is a constant drinker?" Yukino asked.

A beat followed, before Charlotte replied, "It's...kind of a long story."

The beasts were scratching as well banging on the door all to the displeasure of the nakama that wanted cigarettes and alcohol. He waved his hand, a loud gasp of pain escaped before the beasts stopped banging.

Henry nearly flinched. "What on earth was that?!" he asked.

"What'cha think it is?" Fritz said, peeved and cynical. "Don't worry, my power to control subatomic particles and maybe even cells and tissue from how well my powers work, helped put an end to...not much of what we were facing but not a bad amount either."

"Now that is probably something I've never seen before!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Interesting ability, there, sir." Yukino said, cupping her chin with a small smile.

"Don't call me sir, just call me Fritz." Fritz told her.

"Okay, Fritz. When do you think would be a good time to leave this hold?" She asked.

"My best guess is surface this train and swim away." He replied.

"Sounds reasonable enough." she replied with a nod.

Fritz himself finally opened the door. The outside was full of carnage and dead bodies sprawled on the corridor.

"Well, looks like the enemy is all done for." he curtly spoke.

"I feel so bad for us leaving the civilians behind." Henry said. "Stop bemoaning about it, and pay close attention to what's going on!" Fritz told him with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Fritz took one step over one of the shipmate's, puncture holes in his neck from where the beast bit him. Fritz knew something was up but he feigned his guard was down. Some of his nakama and living shipmates screamed in terror or shuddered in silence when the thought to be dead shipmate growled and grabbed Fritz by his leg.

"Predictable." Fritz told the growling mindless beast before his powers dissolved his face leaving nothing but a visible skull and black sought.

He collapsed to the ground, and Fritz kicked him away. "So now what? Any ideas?" Mikio asked.

"We stick to the plan, princess." He barked.

Mikio sighed, before he and Yukino followed Fritz, Charlotte and the others to perhaps a more safer area.

Fritz had a lot to think about being the one in the lead for once.

"Hey, guys! Miss me?" Donna's voice asked. This prompted the group to notice as she took out what appeared to be cannon and harpoon guns. Within seconds, she aimed right at the train, as the ship was still attached to it.

"Move, dammit!" Frisk shouted at everyone just gawking because Donna made some sounds.

The gang ended up fleeing so as to avoid getting hit. However, something was very amiss about this particular Donna.

Charlotte didn't even hear the echo of ballistics firing from her ship.

The attacks kept coming, until the decoy Donna decided enough was enough. She had to take drastic measures in her own hands, both figuratively and literally speaking.

"Donna, I know your on this ship. Can you help erase this abomination from the sea, please." She begged.

"Oh, should I?" Donna retorted towards Charlotte. It wouldn't take long for here start bending part of the ship, which got everyone to notice on the spot.

"Too strong! Your going to kill all of us!" Hardy shouted.

"Good. Killing abominations and pirates is a golden net over a Sea King."

"Hey, you sure as hell ain't the real Donna!" Charlotte exclaimed. This caused the decoy Donna to grin at her statement.

"No, I am the real Donna. The one you killed using my name was merely a decoy. Now you know and now you die."

"What the-?!" Charlotte asked. The decoy Donna's clever fibbing proved to be successful as she looped the ship in various directions, before finally crushing it. Charlotte and her nakama were able to narrowly escape certain death, but weren't happy knowing their ship was destroyed.

The danger is wasn't over for Hardy. Having eaten a devil fruit, he couldn't swim.

X_X_X_X

While chaos was ensuing onboard the train, the real Donna sat still in her office writing on her desk, until a dimension opened up and her husband Kurt walked out.

"Hello honey." Donna replied. 'How is our daughter doing in dimension 24 school? Transitioning or rebelling?"

"I'm afraid something isn't right with her..." was Kurt's response.

"That's too bad. Is she having problems adapting to the new environment?" Donna asked.

"No. She seems to be less docile and more ravenous towards those rocks with cores inside on the ground."

Donna simply frowned.

"She is though doing well academically. Maybe she just needs to grow in there...just kidding, she's actually doing pretty well no side effects."

Donna's frown suddenly turned into a smile as she let out a small laugh. "You had me worried there for a moment." she said.

"Yes. I kill myself. How are you doing chasing after next generation pirates, sweetie?"

"I've been doing decently well." Donna replied.

"That's great. I hope you haven't lost too many decoys. Units are people too."

"I hope so, too." Donna replied.

X_X_X_X

Charlotte was almost crushed but she was saved unlike her friends who would be crushed if she didn't jump in to save them. Only one person had the power to still time like a berry on a ladder.

"Grandpa."

Charlotte knew he could hear her but wouldn't let his prescence be known.

"Are you there?" he called out. His words were enough to make her smile amidst the pain of almost getting crushed.

But just as soon as the train was repaired by his power of rewinding time, he was gone.

"Grandpa? Where are you?" Charlotte asked, but to no avail. She looked around, and could only find Hardy and the others, already recovering from the attack. "Was that really Donna? Because I don't think she sounds like that." he asked.

Charlotte had a good chuckle at their observation.

"Probably not, I suppose." she told him. "What just happened? Our ship got nearly wrecked!" Etoile asked.

"Were you asleep his whole time?" Charlotte was very unsure of why her nakama were so brazen. "We were almost killed by the wife of the most powerful Shichibukai in my dad's journey but we were saved by the second strongest himself who happens to be my grandfather and who I only know because he liked to visit me when I was a little fat girl."

"Really? Do you know anything else about him?" Fritz asked.

"According to my godmother, Eiza, he's to blame for all the bizarre and out of control things that happened with my father. The reason my dad settled down instead of seeing what is through the Red Line."

"I thought the marines were the cause of that." Henry said.

"Well, they're now, apparently." Charlotte told him, causing him to scratch his head in confusion.

Mikio didn't stand ideally by and watch the crew talk about a relative who may or may not be around, she grabbed her pants pulling it up to look like a cape and bowed before them.

"Thank you for risking your lives to make sure as many trainmates could escape with their lives. Myself and their families are indebted to you..."

"Call us the Monster Pirates EXP." Charlotte said with her thumb up.

"Uh, okay..." he replied, almost blushing in embarrassment, much to his sister's delight as Yukino chuckled.

Once again, the siblings bowed their heads to honor the crew.

"Thank you so much, Miss Charlotte." Yukino replied. "Yeah, thank you!" Mikio added with a goofy smile.

"Your welcome, but thank Fritz. He knew what was going on more than I did."

Yukino and Mikio both turned their attention, and bowed their heads. Fritz smiled a bit, appreciating their thanks.

"I think I like being praised once in awhile." Fritz said.

"I thought so, too." Charlotte replied, smiling at him.

"Good. Now let's get the hell out of here."

She nodded, and the group would quickly take off.

Fritz believed they had nothing to fret about now. He was very wrong in that regard.

X_X_X_X

Henry was the one manning the helm while his nakama were in their beds or hammocks getting needed rest after a long day of almost dying. This wasn't going to be a peaceful not; neck was already colored in the red smudge of death.

He let out a long, drawn-out sigh, expressing as to how truly pooped he was during the situation involving the gem creatures.

"First we go to a train and now we sail to an island with a queen who married a devil fruit user who commands her army and she married his son too."

"Excuse me, but who said that?" Henry asked.

"I did. Charlotte was able to relay all that to me." Etoile replied.

Etoile walked out wearing her nightgown. It was dark night lavender with frills of white laced in a circlet on the bottom and top, her hair was combed out to look puffy yet glossy. Her eyes twinkled in the moonlight with this one blotted spot Henry actually thought was pretty cute.

"What makes a woman devote herself to two men...father and son no less." Henry bemoaned.

"Well it's not like she's related to the two of them." Etoile began trying to make sense of something Henry never asked her to. "Maybe she was just loved by both father and son in an age where any girl can go after a father or a son. It's like buying a parfait with chocolate sauce until you realize you could have bought it with nuts, only to think maybe the nuts could just be purchased somewhere else. Or maybe...it's the sex."

Henry was without words and looking at the once infamous werewolf shut in expand on something he didn't want to hear. "O-Okay. So...is there anyone you like?"

"Hardy." She replied without falter.

"Okay. Why do you like him?"

"He is treated like a bag boy but those hands of his could lift the world if he wanted to. He also kind of looks like my father, but in a more chiseled and non-related way. Do you think he has a thing for Charlotte? I mean, they are childhood friends and all."

"Their not really childhood friends. Hardy has only been with Charlotte for a year. Their more..."

Henry tasted something on his lips that seemed to be coming from the window. He only dismissed it as Fritz awake and smoking, but then...the most terrible sound was heart.

KABOOM!

A loud and ear piercing explosion was heard inside Fritz's room.

"What was that?!" he asked, his eyes blinking in confusion as he and Etoile turned their attention to the ship.

Henry ran like a rabbit heading towards Fritz. As he made his way inside, he saw Fritz on the ground holding his mouth and muffling in agony.

He couldn't figure out what he was saying, as he was letting out very muffled expletives. "Oh no...!" Henry muttered. "Something terrible just happened to Fritz! Please come quick!" he exclaimed. Charlotte nodded and soon followed Henry to Fritz. She would locate some beer on his table and brought it over to him.

"Fritz, try to take a sip of your beer." she said.

Fritz opened his mouth to guzzle down the beer before he reacted in a loud and upset way.

"I can't taste...I CAN'T TASTE MY BEER!"

Charlotte was speechless. All she could think was how terrible this turn of events was. But maybe this wasn't the worst thing to happen to a crew, her father had worse.

"Just...who did this?!" Etoile asked as she and Hardy entered the room.

Fritz moaned in rage at the agonizing pain and the assholes who were his nakama not helping him. This prompted Hardy to say to Charlotte and the others, "Don't just stand there gawking, we've gotta help Fritz out!"

Hardy took off his hat before pulling out a bag of ice he used to help keep Fritz's mouth cool. Fritz soon began to calm down thanks to Hardy's efforts.

If Fritz could speak like himself, he would tell Hardy how much of a great friend he was.

The others did everything they could to help Fritz out, with Etoile asking Charlotte, "I may have already asked, but I really want to ask again: Who or what caused this to happen?"

"Maybe it was just Fritz having a midnight smoke and drink combination despite us warning him...or someone sabotaged his room. Look for traps." Charlotte commanded.

"Then we'd better investigate. I think there might be someone that has invaded this ship and that we were blissfully unaware." Henry said.

"Don't worry about my tastebuds." Fritz assured in a sarcastic way. "I'll just start using needles to inject things in my body."

Charlotte, slightly unaware of his sarcasm, replied, "Yeah...that smarts."

Watching the search unfold was a short silver haired boy who had a loud yet calming voice always talking to him inside his head.

"So it looks like it worked." the voice told him.

"I thought so; it's too bad they've probably remedied the whole damn thing." the boy replied.

"Relax. Although they manage to overcome adversity and tribulation, their still arrogant teenagers and a brazen old man who can't manage to settle down and think things through. This will surely slow their progress down enough for us to make our next move. That blue haired book writing witch will be proud."


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Well I only have one more day before my weekend is over and I have to go back to work. Right now all I'm worried about is if I'm keeping better track of my expenses to afford the next release I'm looking forward to. **

X_X_X_X

"Heh..." the boy said with a confident smirk.

Fritz did something unexpected losing his taste, he filled in for Henry steering the ship.

This allowed Henry to take a much-needed nap, until he was ever called upon for anything else that was important.

Like Henry, he was surrounded by Etoile. That girl just doesn't give people their personal space.

"Hey." she said.

Henry nearly jolted awake, looking at her as he asked, "What are doing here? I was...trying to sleep."

"I was just trying to find someone on here that is fun to talk to. Not Fritz, not Hardy, and not Charlotte so who else could be fun to talk to?"

"Well...didn't I remember us two talking while I was dealing with the steer?" Henry asked.

"Of course you did. So, is there anything else you want to bring up?" Etoile replied.

"Um...maybe that racer that you got a crush on?" he asked her.

"Him? Well he was cute and I would have liked to meet him if we didn't run from the island, but it isn't love if it's a one time infatuation."

"Who knows? Maybe you might see him again." Henry replied.

"Maybe...definitely maybe." Etoile said with a small smile.

Henry probably would find an attractive girl on the island they would depart on, but since he was a pirate and the island could detect them...the only hot female who would see him is a Marine trying to imprison or hang him.

"Well, I better get back to sleep. Goodnight." he said, to which Etoile nodded before she left the room.

In a way this crew was like Etoile's family back when she was a neet in a castle and in a way they were different.

Hopefully, whenever the time came, she would love to reunite with her siblings back home.

Fritz was tempted to drink, but drinking while at the helm was a sure way to crash into another ship. He also still couldn't feel the same kindle, hot oven of heat in his body he usually felt when he was smoking. Clearly, he was still a smoker and smoking while stirring. It didn't impede with his steering, it was just a nasty habit.

As he took another drag from the cigarette in his hand, Etoile came in and asked Hardy, "Did you steal those cigarettes from Hardy or something?"

The skin on Hardy started to peel away revealing the real facade: he was Fritz. "No one takes cigarettes from me, and from what I can tell the only smoker on this slave trap is me."

Etoile gasped. "Then where exactly _is _Hardy?" she asked out of puzzlement.

"Most likely examining my room since the explosion. He's a nice boy."

Etoile raised an eyebrow at Fritz's statement, before she began to go and enter Fritz's room to check if Hardy was around.

He was and he was caressing the floorboard.

"Maybe they left something in here."

"This fake Hardy that was at the steer, that was obviously Fritz, wasn't it? I thought you were in charge of the steer." Etoile asked.

"Uh, yeah. But Fritz ended up replacing me, almost intentionally." Hardy replied.

"Doesn't he know he's in no condition to be steering? He almost got his mouth burned off and he's been drinking that stupid sake and whiskey since he got up."

"Sounds like you got a point, there; why shouldn't he be napping right now?" Etoile asked.

"Maybe not being able to taste that stuff has made him feel more on the compassionate side." Hardy opened up a floorboard and peered at the still liquid in a beaker inside. He lift it out to see a liquid in a beaker and a rope tied around it. The sides of the beaker were entirely black. "I think when Fritz smoked in here the smoke triggered this; a catalyst."

Etoile gasped. "Is that so? A beaker containing...something." she said as she took a closer look at the beaker in question.

Hardy could see her attention was on the liquid itself. How it still had great volume inside the beaker despite an obvious explosion happening inside the room.

"But how could such a liquid be able to explode?" Etoile asked as she examined the contents.

Hardy didn't have the answer, but he did know he should show this to Fritz and Charlotte to let them know to double check any room for it before smoking a cigarette...indoors.

Etoile would hand over the beaker to him, and with it in hand, Hardy went to find Charlotte, hoping to show her.

When Charlotte noticed him entering, she asked, "So, did you locate the problem?"

"Yeah. This here was placed under Fritz's floorboard because someone is trying to kill him. Maybe they want him dead first and then the rest of us because Fritz is technically the strongest member here."

"Sounds almost like a legit assassination attempt." Charlotte replied, crossing her arms as her eyebrows furrowed in suspicion.

"Should we double check the ship?" Henry said, showing up out of nowhere and seemingly knowing what Charlotte was talking about. "I mean, we are in water and this happened on this boat. There should be hints if someone did this while we are asea."

"Great idea! We have to make sure everyone pitches in on this investigation!" Charlotte replied with a nod.

X_X_X_X

Meanwhile, Rony was dealing with actors and actresses fed up with him.

"Can't the lot of you learn to calm down?!" he asked, crossing his arms while tapping one of his feet.

"You pretty much abused us during production of your last rot-aka show-and all we got out of it were a few spectators!" One actress shouted.

"Yeah, and you even tried to ogle one of the lady performers!" an actor added.

"No, I didn't!" Rony simply lied.

Imogen was in show a minor character but in real life he was a great leader. He said "There's nine of us here, enough to break down this door if we throttle it together."

"Oh, you're trying to fire me?! I'd love to see you try!" Rony yelled to Imogen.

Rony was using a tirade of positions where he was at the top and everyone else should follow him, but after the actor and actresses broke down his door...he squirmed into a corner.

"Can't we settle this with some oboe music?"

"Oboe music? What are you talking about?" Imogen asked puzzledly.

"It's an instrument some people play. I was going to hire someone to play it in my next play." Rony sweated all over his forehead looking at nine people who loathed him. "Please don't hurt me."

They would then attack by beating him up with their fists, and Imogen also showed up to give him a beatdown, too.

Rony could do nothing to stop the punching considering he was a nobody no matter how many plays he directed. Eventually he weeped and begged them to stop hurting him. They did stop, but only because they had enough of hurting him.

As the actors and actresses reveled in their victory over him, Imogen smiled almost triumphantly. "Perhaps it is possible that we might join a new troupe. Or perhaps form one." he told them.

They all agreed to that while Rony wanted one moment where people weren't rubbing salt in his wounds.

"Could you at the very least leave?" he asked.

Imogen and the others heeded his question, and they would soon leave as promised.

Rony got off his feet feeling weak and unrespected. He pulled something in his joints finally standing on his feet.

"Now who am I gonna recruit at this time?" he asked himself.

There once was a lady with a large white starfish around her body that slept peacefully while rare kinds of Fishman guarded her, ones who grew larger when water touched them but too much and...terrible things.

It seemed she might have had a dark secret.

All she did most days was sleep, awaiting adventurers who were foolish enough to try her. But that was a legend, a myth about the current rulers ancestor because she has two husbands. And now, Charlotte was going to go up and see the queen.

"I've heard of this legend when I was younger, and I bet I'm more than happy to come face to face with her." she told Hardy with a grin.

"Not by walking through the front door you will," Henry said. "My former Marine corps put scanner in this village. So maybe we need to try another way in."

"If that sounds plausible, then so be it." Charlotte said, cupping her chin in thought.

All they needed was something long and solid, and luckily they had a pink version of that. Hardy morphed his bubblegum body into a tall scale able to hold two at a time per scale.

Once the ship arrived, Charlotte and her nakama were pretty much armed and ready to go.

Inside the palace, an attractive hazel skinned lady with a white starfish necklace, silk blue dress showing off her black bra and midriff, violet eyes, and long white ponytail was tapping her fingers on her throne with a white cymbal seat.

She took a glance outside, and noticed a fairly large ship - which happened to belong to Charlotte - anchored near a harbor. She let out a faint smile, pondering over what to do with these new guests.

She paced the large room pondering if she should keep them in the prisoners pit or her young husbands mancave.

But for now, Charlotte and the others were outside her castle, making sure Hardy got the signal to morph.

Despite how little she saw someone in this island use Devil Fruit powers, seeing a man with skin as hazel as her morph into a long scale of justice didn't surprise her.

The woman scoffed, as Hardy's morphing was able to help him and his friends inside. Though it didn't stop her from sending in some henchmen to deal with them.

"My apologizes." Hardy said to the henchman. He removed his hat, twirled it, and dropped it to the floor before sliding it.

"Huh? What's going on?" one of them asked.

"Are you tryin' to play tricks with us?" another asked.

Hardy did his part, now it was Fritz's turn to make the magic happen. He used his powers to flip the hat upside down and right side up over and over again. Until, like a rabbit coming out of a hat, a much needed tool fell out.

The henchmen were flabbergasted as to what item Charlotte and her nakama had in mind. Charlotte distracted them though with her intentions.

"I want to speak to the queen."

One of the guards huffed. "You'll be lucky she doesn't throw you in the pit with that weird monk that talks to a rock."

They wound up complying and escorted the group to the queen, who could only grin as they arrived in her chambers.

The only one not trying to look undeterred by her appearance was Hardy. The boy was learning a bit about hormones and how she looked very attractive in his young male eyes.

"I am Bridgetta, the Queen Starfish. It seems as though you wish to capture me so that I could be shown off for scientific purposes." Bridgetta said with a small frown.

"No, you are probably only 1/128 whatever species you were. We are here to ask where the forest is." Charlotte said.

"A forest you may ask?" Bridgetta asked. "If you can withstand some of my bodyguards, I might clue you in." she added.

A few fish men entered the room, much to Charlotte and her nakama's chagrin.

"Etoile...your up."

Etoile made long blood solidified claws facing backwards that reached for the hat. She had the strength to toss it in the air. After it was moved, out popped a fishing rod.

The fish men were confused as to why a fishing rod would be used against them, as Etoile quickly learned.

But Charlotte picked it up and twirled it around. The line moved towards the fishmen and coiled around one's bicep. Her move happened when one sneaked behind her; she lifted her legs up and kicked the hard skin torso causing the other fishman to topple over.

Hardy was slugged by a towering hammerhead shark Fishman. When the punch connected, Hardy's body split in half, his upper part stretching out his sides to handcuff the fishman's fists. The Fishman was interlocked and constricted, and Hardy turned his head into a bubblegum hammer to smash him.

Fritz threw an empty beer bottle on a pufferifsh Fishman. And again. He did it again. Every time the bottle smashed he used his powers to make it whole again.

The boys weren't the only ones with creative use of their powers. A sand carp Fishman and a lobster Fishman tried punching Etoile in both directions. She jumped over their, her claws out, the blood in her claws melted off and dropped on the extended fists of the fishmen. And then, the blood solidified into their fists, trapping them together. This was an ideal moment for Etoile to sucker-kick them.

Delivering low kicks to the both Fishmen, one in the torso, and the other in the groin unexpectedly, Etoile watched as Charlotte as she morphed into her werewolf form. This indicated that she was ready to fight Bridgetta, to her delight.

Bridgetta's chest emblem shone red. The ceiling was embroidened in red light before it opened showing dozens of golden tridents above.

"One move and we all die the way I want to be, killed by a strong trident. I hope to die by the Fudoyshi Trident."

Henry, who bore witness to everything happening before his eyes, asked Charlotte, "What do we do now? If any of us dare to attack her, we're all dead."

Charlotte had a choice to make: her nakama or her luck. She knew it should be a no thought decision, but before she could even move some strangers voice roared.

"Rollcka, Shield up!"

With that roar, everyone of her nakama was surrounded by a box and a roof of rock slabs. And inside the box, the tridents rained down on her. The tridents were sharp enough to impale the roof, but not sharp enough to impale through her head given it was safeguarded now.

"Rollcka? Who _is_ that?" she asked, scratching her head out of confusion.

The rocks finally tumbled off. In their place was dozens of tridents everywhere in the room. It seemed like they avoided fatality only to be trapped. That was until the very ground flipped upside down, burying the spears underground.

The person responsible for the attack was a monk of average build and average height, who looked down at Charlotte and the others and said, "Don't be frightened. I am here to rescue you all."

Charlotte was both in relief and in doubts with this man.

"I honestly don't know who you are, but..." she told him, but turned her attention to Bridgetta, "...my friends and I have some fish to fry." she said, much to Bridgetta's slight amusement.

Bridgetta charged in jumping on the exposed shafts of the spears. Charlotte also jumped on the spears and charged towards Bridgetta, the difference being her claws were out.

Bridgetta brought out her prized trident and already charged for Charlotte. Surprisingly, it was Charlotte that made the first move thanks to her claws.

Charlotte missed her mark, and was scratched in her left shoulder. She even noticed as Bridgetta attempted at disintegrating her, but out of sheer luck, Charlotte dodged almost quickly.

"So that's your power. Disintegration." Charlotte smirked at an understanding that was pretty petite.

"And regeneration." Bridgette said that but the scab on her arm was still bleeding. "Try to hurt me again."

"What?!" Charlotte asked. "But you're still bleeding! Why do you claim to rengenerate?!"

Bridgette did something crazy with her hands. She put her hands around her neck and squeezed hard. In a strange move that made trauma from Charlotte's past-the bullies hurting her-seem small...Bridgette decapitated her own head. Charlotte didn't believe through this horrid site Bridgette was dead, and in just a few seconds she wasn't or at least was but didn't appear to be now. Her whole head grew back.

Charlotte's eyes widened as she stammered, "But...But that's...!"

"See what I mean?" Bridgetta said with a confident smile.

She didn't stop with her head. She crossed her arms and used the same weapon on both of them. This time both of her arms were falling off. They regrew like her head, but unlike her head they can still move. The arms joined the head, reanimated and joined together making a newly made being.

"Oh, shit...I-I don't know what to do!" Charlotte muttered.

"Giving up already?" Bridgetta asked.

The small thing leaped towards Charlotte prepared to claw at her. That face that said she didn't stand a chance changed into a face that was well prepared for this.

"Gotcha." Charlotte said with a smile.

Charlotte smacked the thing around before charging with it towards Bridgetta.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**The trees are frozen, the grass are frozen, but my fingers are still warm so I can type all day. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

"What?!" was all that she could ask.

Bridgetta was grabbed by her own arms. Within seconds, she felt herself pummeled by Charlotte's claws almost nonstop.

Bridgetta's starfish absorbed the punches, but she could feel her innards being pushed around like a volleyball with every punch.

"Is this starfish supposed to be your lifeforce?" Charlotte tauntingly asked.

"No. It's suppose to be my chest that used to be apart from me, now it's like my carbon skin."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. ' _There probably has to be a way to damage it somehow,' _she thought to herself.

It wasn't a Devil Fruit power so her seastone boots were off the table.

Thankfully, Rollka and the strange monk could probably be of some assistance. When a severed arm grabbed a spear it tried impaling into Charlotte, a slab of earth rose and blocked the spear.

The monk then said, "My name is Jio, and this is my spirit guardian Rollcka. We are both more than happy to help out."

"Really? Then this should be good." Charlotte replied. "Thanks for the save, by the way."

"Don't thank him yet!"

Before Charlotte's instincts could notice such a small aura of life, she was whacked by a spear. The force sent her flying through the air and into a ledge in the wall. Although she grabbed the ledge, it hurt like a punch to the stomach.

"I never want to do that again."

Charlotte took another deep breath, before looking down to search for Bridgetta. What she found instead was a spear hurled at her that missed but still hit the ledge causing Charlotte to fall. Hitting the ground, she briefly rubbed the back of her neck, before turning her attention to the enemy to finally deal with her.

Charlotte turned into her wolf hybrid form. While in this form, she could smell the skin of even the detached arms trying to kill her.

She growled as she clawed at the arms almost as quickly as possible, before finally reaching Bridgetta, and able to attack her with her claws.

Bridgetta finally felt what being pummeled by sharp talons feels like.

She grit her teeth as she found herself falling to the floor, looking up at Charlotte with a defeated grimace. "Fine; you win. I'll be more than happy to tell you where the forest is." she told her.

Just to prove to them the fight was over, she had her remaining servants pluck the spears out and drag them out of the throne room.

"That wasn't so bad of a fight. At least I'll be able to get information at last." Charlotte told Bridgetta as the others were freed.

Bridgetta led them through a hall, walking into a sixty-two year old tan man in golden armor. When Bridgetta approached him...she pecked him on the cheek.

"What is it, sweetie?" he asked.

"Is this your father?" Hardy asked Bridgetta.

"No, he's one of my two husbands and just happens to be my first husbands' father."

Henry felt his stomach churn, while Charlotte bluntly replied, "Interesting...So, do you have any hints or anything that might help us?"

"Don't rely on the numbers on the trees, make sure to leave breadcrumbs to lead you back to where you parked."

"Breadcrumbs? But how on earth can we pull it off? I mean, I'm not sure if we have any bread on our ship." Henry asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"It's a figure of speech, you morons. I mean do something to help lead you back to your ship while your roaming around."

Charlotte looked over at Henry and nodded. "Yeah, he's right. You've never heard of euphemisms, right?"

"Sorry about that. I had no idea what that meant." he replied.

Bridgetta led them into a map room with the only person inside being a young spiky blond hair man with golden armor cladded in him. Bridgetta slipped up to him and kissed him.

"My little golden lion, can you give your wife's associates a way into the forest, please dear?"

"Oh yeah, sure, babe." the man replied.

"Do your husbands have names?" Hardy asked.

"Yes, the older one is Daven, whereas the younger one here is Jett." Bridgetta replied. "You were saying, Jett?"

He pulled out a map from his right shoulder. He unrolled it to show a green area map with red circles.

"You will have to start here." He said pointing to a circle far away from the only grey spot in the map; city.

"Hmm..." Charlotte pondered for a moment, before Etoile added, "Is it obviously possible we get there via our boat? Or do we have to go by foot?"

"What do you think? The Strawhats didn't just walk to the forest, they got there by boat. It really undermines the thinking when I just shout the answer doesn't it?"

Etoile shrugged, while Fritz added, "Some of us can be pretty clueless sometimes..."

"Clueless?" Charlotte asked, before letting out a small chuckle. "Well, none of you better be that next time."

Henry raised his hand in the air after that he said "I'll be the one who will try to not be clueless, Charlotte."

She nodded, and asked Jett and Bridgetta, "By the way, this grey circle in particular; does it have a name? And do you have any information about it?"

"It's called Kingdom. Some islands are getting lots of eyesores of grey so why not make our kingdom at least look grey in a map." Bridgetta explained.

"Interesting name for a city...sounds like we're ready to go!" Charlotte said. The other pirates agreed with her.

Bridgetta led them to the forest with all the numbers etched in them and the unexplained bubbles.

"What are all these bubbles? As well as the numbers on those trees? Do both of them have sort of function?" Charlotte asked her.

"It's just always been there. And be sure to check your full number of the tree your near or you will get lost."

"Sounds good: we'll be sure to remind each other that." Fritz replied with a small smile.

"Don't mention it." Bridgetta said.

Bridgetta waved goodbye to a few of Charlotte's nakama while as for Charlotte herself, she got to see Bridgetta raise her middle finger and stick her tongue out at her.

"Right back at you!" she exclaimed, flipping the bird and blowing a raspberry. The ship then took off, heading towards their next destination.

The forest was as beautiful as Charlotte hoped it would be, but it was kind of boring.

Soon, the ship found a port to anchor itself at, and as the group stepped out, Charlotte was indeed impressed. "Let's see what's out there." she said to herself confidently.

The tree leafs colors were completely different from ordinary trees. Instead of a bright green, yellow-green, or even orange-red, they were more of a darker shade of blue.

Charlotte had the urge to climb them, but that seemed like a shitty idea seeing how many bubbles there were.

' _Remember Bridgetta's advice,' _she thought to herself. "This place is huge!" she heard Etoile exclaim.

Henry, the wimp of the crew, walked down carrying a shotgun in both his hands.

"Are you sure that there's anything lurking around?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure there isn't anything that's threatening here." Hardy replied.

"Well, islands have all kinds of terrors because no island is pretty without a predator or a curse to it." Charlotte remarked.

"So it's best that we probably need to be careful." Fritz told her.

"My thoughts, exactly." she replied.

The day went by and so far the only dangerous thing to happen was Hardy almost falling down a trap hole.

"Nothing eventful, I guess..." Charlotte said to herself.

However, something seemed to be lurking within the forest. She was happy she could turn her ears into her wolf ears to help with her senses.

With her wolf ears, she began hearing something rather odd, which was enough to garner the others's attention.

Then, she heard three rounds of what was clearly a pistol fired at her. Luckily, she dropped to the ground and dodged the bullets at the nick of time.

Her nakama followed suit, and they were all somewhat startled yet very curious as to where the shots were coming from.

In the bushes was he short silver haired merchant/assassin Herbert with his pistol now pointed at Charlotte's skull. The gun was fired but certain death was a skewed by a monk with a shard deflecting the bullet.

"Huh...?!" Herbert asked out of shock.

Charlotte scratched the back of her neck; it seemed the monk looked familiar to her...

Then he started talking to his shard letting her know it was Jio from the kingdom with his spirit Rollica.

Herbert fired two more shots, and Jio approached two steps he used blocking the shots. Soon, Jio was up close with Herbert.

"Jio! Rollka!" Charlotte exclaimed out of bewilderment.

Clenching his fists, Jio said, "So you must be the man who attempted to murder the girl and her friends."

"I give you my consent." He replied.

Jio was completely baffled by that reply when suddenly Herbert clenched his fists and started a left jaw uppercut.

"It's you again!" Charlotte exclaimed.

After Jio took the hit, Herbert then turned his head to see her. "I knew you would say that." he told her with a grin.

"Good. Then explain to me with every breath you can muster...WHY DID YOU TRY TO KILL ME?!"

"I thought you never asked." he replied.

Jio backed away to let him talk to Charlotte face to face.

"Let's see...remember that time I attempted to kill your father?" Herbert asked.

"Of course I remember, you sicko!" Charlotte replied, clenching her fists.

"Well, what better way to get the King of the Pirates attention then killing you, his daughter."

"You wouldn't dare!" Charlotte retorted. Jio nodded in agreement, before taking out his weapon and charging right after Herbert.

Herbert's knee opened up his cannon before firing a strong burst at Jio. This projectile was stopped by a diamond-esque jewel in front of him, but the impact still pushed the young monk back.

Nevertheless, Jio regained his composure, and attempted to attack him with his staff a second time. This time, his staff strike very hard against his chin.

Herbert took the hit quite well, clutching at his jaw as he grit his teeth. At the same time, Rollcka had begun analyzing him.

"It seems he is a cyborg; part man and part machine. Although he doesn't have much augmentations, he seems to hold enough ballistics and fire power to take us out, easily."

"That's great, now can you do something about the pain he's put me through or the fear I have of bullets?" Jio said.

The staff itself rose to Jio's face and started cuddling him with its soft surface. "Awww. Is my JiJi hurt?"

"Could you please not taunt me? We're supposed to be fighting together, not bickering at each other!" a fairly annoyed Jio asked Rollcka.

Jio's body jumped when a bullet nearly shot through his toe.

He turned to notice Herbert, who just grinned as he said, "Sorry to butt in on your conversation, old man!"

"Old man? I'm in my twenties." Jio groaned.

"Meh, whatever." Herbert said, rolling his eyes. He fired another bullet, which prompted Jio to narrowly dodge it.

"Why aren't you moving any rocks!" Jio yelled.

"Because this is a forest not a building." Rollicka replied.

"I think we should help him out." Charlotte told her nakama.

"Are you sure? Except for you, none of us know this guy." Hardy told her.

"You will soon!" she replied with a grin.

Jio was panting heavily from fear and adrenaline. Even with his wild emotions, he continued to charge towards Herbert.

Suddenly, Charlotte showed up, already morphed in her wolf form, to Jio's surprise. Herbert was taken aback at her transformation, though this didn't faze him.

He fired his pistols this time at the wolf captain.

A bullet was able to nearly pierce into her skin, but Charlotte was able to charge at him. She then brought out her claws, and clawed right at him with precise speed.

Herbert felt that, fell on his bottom with the pain she gave him.

He grit his teeth as he slumped to the ground, looking right at her and asking, "How...How were you able to manifest such abilities?"

"I inherited them from the pirate king with the shortest time he spent in power. Soon, I'll be strong enough to get revenge on his greatest enemy, Donna."

Charlotte spoke this after regaining her human form. Upon hearing this, Herbert said with a sneer, "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, really?" Charlotte asked with a grin.

"I think it's best both of you keep you yaps shut." A voice of an unseen person suggested.

It wasn't a familiar voice, but it sounded like a bratty little girls voice. Sure enough; the four from Water 7 were reunited: Charlotte, Hardy, Herbert, and the blue haired girl whose book Charlotte ripped.

"Have I seen you before?" Charlotte asked her.

"Yes. You ripped up my book. I had that book especially penned for Herbert, and I you just ripped it up like a bully."

"Hey, you were obviously on his side, and up to no good like he is, so I had to destroy it!" Charlotte replied.

"No one is on my side. All I have for friends are cattle. But I'm not the one who should be ashamed of myself; you pirates should reimburse me."

Rolling out of the woods with a long lash of rope around his nape was Rupert the conductor, naked except for his beige loincloth between his legs.

The rest of Charlotte's nakama, and even Jio were surprised at Rupert's appearance. "How did he get here like this?" Hardy asked.

"This sadist brought me here herself. She psychotic." Rupert whined.

"Is that any way to speak to the girl who will give you power to crush the fledgling of Wolffang Razi? You're indebted to me, capeesh. By my hands, you will be a monster."

"Y-Yes...great master."

Her eyes twinkled red before she smiled malevolently. "Good boy."

With a piece of paper and a pen, she started writing things down. Whatever she wrote was stirring up great power inside Rupert. He shuddered as he was feeling the urge to see what she had written.

"But how did he go from a composer to a slave?" Etoile asked.

"His work is absolute shit. He doesn't earn any money from it, so I just saved him from a landslide of debt and depression." She spoke.

"By making him a slave?" Henry asked, dumbfounded by her statement.

"Pretty much so." she replied.

"Wow...I wonder what happened to the people that went on strike against him?" Henry added.

"They pretty much look like my slave will soon transform to. Speaking of which..."

She started using her penmanship on scrip paper. Slowly Rupert started to writhe in pain and shake his arms.

"It hurts!" he exclaimed as he fell to his knees.

"In the name of all things sacred...this girl must be a trainer of sorts!" Jio exclaimed.

What was once was Rupert skin was molding sickly green with his eyes blinking rapidly until it was entirely red in his pupils and irises.

As Rupert screamed, Hardy told Charlotte, "Do you think this girl and the merchant are working together? If they are, then we have to do away with them!"

"Let's start by going after the small one." Charlotte said.

She jumped forward ready to punch her, but she was uppercut by Rupert's newfound tree looking arm.

' _Must be the girl's writing on her book that's causing him to morph drastically,' _ she thought to herself.

She did a spinning dodge after Rupert swung his arm in an arc at her. Remembering the sword she'd used in past fights, she slashed at him with the blade, prompting him to let out a small shriek of pain.

Charlotte trained well with the blade she obtained after her training with her uncle despite the only swordsman being Henry and him being wimpy and all.

"See if you can try and dodge another one of these!" she exclaimed, her sword striking Rupert, this time in the arm.

It seemed like this time he was screaming in agony from the cut in his arm, but after she used that penmanship his actions were more unfazed. He even let her cut deeper into his arm so he could slug her with his free one.

Despite almost dodging, Charlotte took the hit, which would be enough for one of her nakama, or perhaps Jio, to step in and help out.

Turns out she didn't need help since her feet in her wolf body could instinctively jump forward with only a touch on the ground.

"Your new monster really lacks in the decorum." Charlotte said.

The blue-haired girl scowled, before asking, "Are you trying to mock me?"

"Oh no, I think what will really be mocking is the pall people put over your coffin when you die. Or maybe the pall you use to turn this stifle into a beast is what I'm really mocking. Either way, this is all a joke to me."

"Your right." She pulled out her pen and started scribbling faster than even a teacher could write on a chalkboard. In a moment, Charlotte was entangled by a small crevice her foot fell through, but her whole body was still intact other than that one foot. "Why waste power on him when I can go after you."


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Like the last chapter it was snowing heavily when I edited it, this time the roads were frozen so I couldn't leave the house. Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this. **

X_X_X_X

She gave her a very strong leer, and began to try and get out as quickly as she could. Didn't take her long until she was hacking at the entrapment with her sword.

Soon, the entrapment found itself breaking down, slowly but surely. Eventually, Charlotte broke out, and would quickly charge after her. Rupert however rolled his way up to her ready to smash her with his root muscles.

To their surprise, Jio made the save for Charlotte, as after he struck him with his staff, he told her, "I'll try and deal with this tree man. You go after the girl and possibly her friend, too!"

"I don't think she has any friends, but thanks."

Jio talked big, but he still couldn't use Rollicka's power of rock manipulation to hurt the tree monster, and he was glaring with great immensity at him.

"Try and mess with me, kid. Go ahead, I dare you." he taunted towards Rupert as he prepared his attack.

The berserker growled before his eyes illuminated when he charged. Jio struck hard with his staff, dealing fair damage to Rupert in the torso area. And when Rupert swung his arm, he jumped out of his path.

He narrowly took a small hit, but that didn't stop him attacking him again with his weapon. This time his shard got Rupert in the jugular. Rupert shuddered as he took the hit, before slumping to the ground and clutching at the area as it bled instantly.

Even in his monstrous form, he was still sensitive to pain. However, the blue-haired girl seemed to have no intention of losing to Charlotte, unlike him.

Charlotte tried hitting her while she was scribbling on her notebook. Whatever was being written made all her punches miss.

"I can control every way you try to hit me. And I know which way to dodge when you try." The blue haired girl gloated.

Charlotte grit her teeth, before thinking to herself: _There needs to be a way to take her out!_

Then the blue-haired girl pulled something out, a poster. She stretched the poster from her head to her toes and then walked into it. The poster looked malleable, but it stretched until it finally concealed her skin, then it changed her. She started to grow bigger in bulk like Rupert did, but instead of being topless she kept a bikini top, her long hair turned into a ponytail, and her feet turned into bulky dinosaur feet with four sharp toes.

"Oh shit..." Hardy muttered as he, Charlotte and the others noticed the girl's change of size and appearance.

"Is this her real form?!" Henry asked, looking genuinely shocked.

Charlotte knew different. Whatever power she possessed seemed to also change her into whatever she made into a poster.

"So that's your ability?" she asked. "That's nothing compared to...this!" she added, before morphing into her wolf form.

Although Charlotte was once again in her intimidating form, she was barely in a feat of strength compared to her enemy. She scratched her wolf claws only to have one nail ripped off by the blue haired giant gripping her claw.

Charlotte reacted by growling in slight pain, though she still kept her angry and hungry eyes on her. "One nail down means you're starting to become weaker, aren't you?" the girl asked her.

Charlotte knew that was a rhetorical question so growling was the best response to a sadistic small chested girl who only wanted to see her cry.

_'Don't think you'll try and take me down a peg_,' Charlotte said internally as she climbed up to her torso and used her uninjured hand to claw at her.

Her claw finally left a mark on her skin. She made a very annoyed remark after being hurt. "That hurt, you fat pig."

Charlotte flinched. No one has called her that in over seven years, but that was a name she was referred to by a lot of boys growing up.

"That's what you want to call me, fat pig?" She said in a voice inhuman and cold.

It was so unexpected for Charlotte to talk in her wolf form, as she was once unable to speak. It seemed that those lingering memories had begun to crawl back to the surface.

And they made her completely furious. She took one long staggering breath before roaring away trees, rocks, and even peel off surface from the ground. She was in deadly form now.

The blue-haired girl was in shock as Charlotte charged for her upwards, until reaching her head. This was a much stronger attack, it sent the blue-haired girl flying into the sky.

Charlotte narrowly landed on the ground with her feet, though she winced a bit at one of her claws, since one of the nails had been torn up. This increased her rage, and increased her speed on her feet until a spiral footwork caused a landslide of dirt to rise up and fall towards the blue haired girl.

When the girl hit the ground, she felt the landslide come her way, and it was enough to take her down.

Charlotte was so berserk even winning didn't quench her blood thirst and need to rip the girl in half. Luckily for the blue haired girl, she had her angelic armor poster up her sleeve.

"Two can play that game." she said with a grin.

She walked through the poster, less strut due to her hesitation of facing Charlotte, but she passed through and this time floated into the air. Not only was she floating, her body grew to greater height and bigger bulk with two angelic yellow wing appendages sticking out of her back close to the nape of her neck. Her arms were filled with a long thing saber more gold than her yellow wings, her whole body was garbed with white illuminating armor, and her face was covered in a helmet with six rubies; three vertical on each side of the helm.

"Holy crap...I think Charlotte might need some help with this gal!" Etoile exclaimed.

"Think again." Hardy replied.

The blue haired girl boosted her power and her ego swinging her sword left and right with ecstasy brimming on her face.

"I never thought I'd be using this form again, but you have proven yourself worthy-"

Werewolf Charlotte jumped off the ground and nipped her teeth on the angel's right wing! The girl screeched as Charlotte's fangs cut right into the wing, before chewing it off, and throwing it onto the ground.

The wing was the size of a ship, but her razor sharp teeth made quick work of it. Now one-winged, the girl attempted to fight back against her. She tried cleaving through her big burly wolf arms with her sword, but that didn't work when she had those oscillating red eyes and berserk power. The sword was stopped.

It wasn't long before Charlotte clawed at her face, blood beginning to pour out of the cuts.

She finally collapsed on the ground.

With her seemingly dead, Charlotte reverted back to her human form, smiling fearlessly. The rest of her nakama felt as though they were victorious. Charlotte felt this inordinate feeling what she used was a failure, something a captain should never do.

_'Did I succeed?' _she thought to herself. '_Because I just can't fail at a time like this!' _

Her eyes turned red for a gleaming second as it felt like a lump was climbing out of her trachea, but she composed herself. She didn't want to repeat what happened to her father when he met Jane.

"Don't you have to deal with me? Or do you expect me to flee?" Herbert asked, which was enough to get her attention.

"Oh right, thanks for reminding me. Hardy."

Hardy slithered in his bubblegum form before making Herbert experience what it mean to be in a vore novel.

"HEY!" Herbert yelled as it looked like he was consumed.

"Are you really going to devour him? In that form of yours?!" Fritz asked.

"He's not really going to digest him." Charlotte explained. "But he will be constricted through the walls of bubblegum until Hardy spits him out."

Indeed, Hardy would constrict him for some time. Herbert could smell the faint scent of bubblegum, but grunted as Hardy continued, before eventually spitting him out. This left him in a puddle of pink goo.

"Hardy, can I borrow your hat for one minute?" Charlotte asked. Hardy complied giving her the hood. She smiled while reaching in and pulling out a hood with pins near the neck. "Thanks, friend."

She pierced the pins through her neck to cover her face from the puddle of sticky goo.

"I don't appreciate this humiliation!" Herbert exclaimed, managing to stand up. "Trying to get consumed in some vice-like grip...Ugh!" he added.

"Well I don't like looking at it, hence the hood-cap." Charlotte replied.

"So what do we do now? Jump him some more? Interrogate him? Or maybe persuade him to work with us?" Henry asked.

"He worked for us once. I guess we can get him to work for us again." Charlotte replied, hood still over face.

"I guess." Etoile said, shrugging. "Fine. I don't really care either way." Herbert simply told them bluntly, crossing his arms.

"So are we going to get to this court room Monkey D. Luffy was in or not?" Fritz asked.

"Of course! Besides, I can't let you guys down!" Charlotte replied.

Hardy and the others smiled, while Herbert nodded in agreement.

The five crewman, one tailing young holy-boy, and the schizophrenic assassin also prisoner moved through the forest to find the entrance to the court.

X_X_X_X

The blue-haired girl was still reeling from her defeat. However, it didn't stop her from getting up, and taking out her sketchbook.

"Enjoy your victory now, pirate king daughter. Because next time you will see what demise looks like."

Her sketch was vague but it was a shadowy stenciled figure in all black chewing on something that used to be a fruit but was now only a stem.

X_X_X_X

After long walking and constantly having Henry the ships appointed sniper hold a rifle on Herbert, they made it to the building they were looking for.

"So this is the court in question? Looks pretty spiffy, visually speaking." Charlotte said to herself as she examined the court.

"No way it can be this clean after forty-two years without someone being here." Hardy said in wonder.

"You think we can investigate the place?" Etoile asked.

"As your captain I say we are explore three people together. One side choices a coin toss so we can decide who gets Herbert." Charlotte explained.

"Very well." Fritz replied, before asking, "So, who will represent heads and who will represent tails?"

"Since I'm the captain I get to make the first choice." Charlotte yelled. "Or not. Being a captain means ordering you for the sake of pillaging and sailing, so Etoile your team gets to call first."

"Okay, captain. I call tails."

"I'll be going with heads." Hardy replied. "And so will I." Jio added.

"Alright then, the others will be joining me for tails." Etoile said.

Fritz then flipped the coin, until it eventually landed on the palm of his hand in a split second.

It was tails. Hardy and Jio sighed, they had to pair up with Herbert. Charlotte grasped him tightly.

"Let's move. Fritz, Etoile, and Henry good luck together."

Fritz simply nodded, with Etoile and Henry following his lead.

Henry kept his eyes up and his rifle raised to the ceiling.

"See anything suspicious in this building?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out soon, right?" Etoile replied, turning her head towards Fritz. "Perhaps." was his curt response.

Etoile noticed a speckle of light illuminating through the walls. She used her powers to create a small statue of blood in the shape of a toe. The toe wiggled to life before moving off her hand and into the wall. In no time, the wall was burst open and from behind the plaster...she saw a black shirt dark skin man with curly black hair, a white sunhat, and only big bulk shaped white eyes where the pupils should be.

Henry gasped. Being a former member of the marines he knew what this was, a Pacifista.

"You must be one of those Pacifistas!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, how'd you know who I am?" the man replied.

Fritz raised his hand in the air.

"Back away from her!" He yelled knowing how powerful these cyborgs are.

"How is it still operating?" Henry wondered aloud.

"I don't know why!" Etoile replied, sporting a baffled expression.

"If it isn't too much trouble for you three may I please ask...GET ME OUT OF HERE!" The Pacifista uproared, engulfed in a brown aura while making that loud noise.

Henry almost flinched in terror, until Fritz said, "Sounds like somebody wants to break out of here."

Etoile did not hesitate to attempt to free him with her blood made claws. Three talon marks appeared in the wall where she believed his shoulders must be.

He found himself breaking away, slowly but surely. He would then say to them, "Thank you. If it weren't for any of you, I'd still be trapped."

"No problem. It's not everyday we get to come across something that should have been destroyed years ago." She replied.

"So these Pacifistas do exist after all..." Fritz said to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck in thought.

"Now I know you want to blow us all up with your little mouth-beam, but since we freed you why don't we let you go. Either parley while we are on the seas and save your energy for trying to kill us later...on another island."

"Ever the one who has the friendly conversations." Etoile remarked, and kept her eyes off Fritz so when she asked her new question Fritz moved thinking it was for him. "Do you have a name?"

"PX-12." He replied.

"Okieee. Can we name you with an actual human name?"


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Continuing a chapter right after the end of the last chapter sometimes doesn't work well for the story. This is one of those times. Thank you CuddlyChristina. **

X_X_X_X

"Sure. How about Pete?" Pete replied.

"Okay, sounds cool." Etoile said, nodding her approval.

"So why are you here, Pete?" Fritz asked.

"I've been here in secret since Monkey D. Luffy was here."

"So you know some of those Straw Hat Pirates?" Etoile inquired.

"Not really. I never left this court room and he never came back to it."

"Huh...barely acquainted, huh?" Fritz said, cupping his chin. "But how did you end here, anyway?" Henry asked.

"Well...that's a question that's been troubling me for twenty-seven years."

"You've been in this court for twenty-seven years. Damn are you stupid or what." Fritz remarked.

"Sorry for my response. Truth is, I've never been out of here before all my life." Pete said with a small frown.

"That sucks, but I also get stuck in a small space being a professor and not seeing the world until now. Henry, what about you?"

"I said I was going to give my life for the Marines...my superior said that wasn't worth anything." Henry said, changing the mood from mystery to forlorn.

"And at the end of the day...I've been nothing more than a coward." he added. Pete patted him on the shoulder with a reassuring smile. "Aw...it's gonna be alright. I bet you're secretly brave on the inside." he said.

Henry liked this nice Pacifista. He only wished he wasn't a machine designed to kill pirates so he could say their pirates.

"Where is your Marine base?" He asked.

"Uh...well, I can't seem to recall where, since I'm working alongside these two and their leader Charlotte as a pirate." Henry replied, scratching his head.

Fritz and Etoile just freaked out the moment Henry said the P work. When Pete heard that word, his mouth started to charge up energy and he was looking down at Henry. Henry would have lost his head from the beam Pete was going to make if Etoile didn't push him down...the beam exploding through the wall behind him.

"How many times do we have to be chased and shot at before you goddamn you-know-what's stop saying the P WORD?!" Fritz shouted.

"S-S-Sorry! I didn't mean to say it!" Henry stammered as he was almost freaking out. "Sheesh, you've should've known better than that!" Etoile told him, crossing her arms with a look of slight annoyance.

Fritz stayed calm, but the Pacifista was still looking for them and the blood churning sound of him charging his mouth beam was apparent through the building.

"Just who emitted that beam...if it was me, then my sincerest apologies." Pete told them.

Fritz put his hand over Henry's mouth to keep the blabbermouth in check.

"Why no, you didn't do us any harm."

"Thank goodness for that." Pete said, a sigh of relief escaping him.

"Well nice meeting you, but we need to explore this whole area and then return to our friends." Etoile said.

"Okay. Then let's go." Pete said, nodding his approval. The others had agreed, and they all eventually began heading out again.

X_X_X_X

Charlotte and Hardy had to hold Herbert tightly while Jio stroked the walls.

"So many wails were in here...of hunger." He said.

"Where could all that come from? I wonder?" Charlotte asked.

Then they smelled smoke. Someone was eating something in this court.

Hardy sniffed as he looked around, before asking, "Hey, where's that smell coming from?"

"I don't know. Any ideas?" Charlotte replied.

Charlotte followed the smell. She finally saw the gray skin and white musty hair of an undead person, the kind of person she didn't see in Thriller Bark.

"Oh, shit..." she muttered under her breath.

"Is that a corpse?!" Hardy asked.

"Indeed." Herbert said. "It seems that people once lived here, became so hungry for a lack of food they started eating each other but they became a new kind of corpse creatures called...the Wendigo's. It was believed eating someone would make you a Wendigo, but it's really being on the brink of starving to death and resorting to eating another starving to death person that turns you into one."

"Sounds like we might either have to narrowly avoid them or hunt them down. Any ideas?" Hardy asked.

Charlotte responded by taking off her bra. She just yanked on the back of her shirt and the bra came off. Then she picked up a stick and slipped the bra on the pointy end.

"Your hat please; Hardy."

Hardy handed her his hat. She shook it until a stick with a red end came out. Next she put the stick in her armpit. Soon a small kindle of fire on the stick came out. With her match on fire, she burned her bra on the stick.

"Charge!"

Charlotte throttled towards the Wendigo with her stick/spear blazing with her bra ready to pierce its heart, however, the Wendigo noticed her...he disappeared like a mist before her.

Charlotte was spinning with her weapon. Even if the Wendigo was faster than anyone she's encountered so far, she still had a chance to spear it.

The Wendigo appeared claws in fierce fury. Charlotte didn't have time to react to his bloody weaving claws, however, the monster was soon struck by a flying katana blade in his right arm.

Although Charlotte was saved by this unknown person, the first footstep he made made her shudder in fear. Then she saw the back of a man wearing the puffiest yutaka with a sash around his arm, the longest brown hair she's ever seen, and the sharpest claws that made a werewolf like her look trimmed.

"Are you alright, young lady?" he asked her.

Charlotte looked at him with one of her eyebrows raised, as she asked, "Yeah...Yeah, I am. But just, who are you?"

He sheathed his blade into his scabbard. It was one of two katana's dangling on his green obi before looking at her with the green under color in his eyes with completely black eyeballs.

"Captain Vein. Although some refer to me as Vein the Vampire. Who are you?"

"I'm Charlotte, captain of a group of...fighters that will fight alongside me for years to come!" Charlotte replied, careful so as to not say 'pirate'.

"Right. I'm also a captain of 'fighters' that is after someone. They will be beheaded and their body will be mine."

"I highly doubt you might find who you were looking for here. This place has been almost empty for years...or something like that." Charlotte told Vein.

He closed his eyes letting his tranquil words brisk in the breeze. "No, it hasn't. This place is just a replica of the original court and it hasn't been abandoned...their just smart enough to know where to hide."

This instantly caught Charlotte and the others off-guard. "Really? Is that so?" Jio asked.

"Why take a word of a stranger when you have the greatest earth spirit on the tip of your staff." Rollica reminded.

"R-Right!"

Vein turned his back on Jio when he kneeled down, hand touching the dirt, and began activating Rollica's glowing amber powers creating a seismic reaction in the ground. When the shard stopped glowing, Jio jumped to deliver his answer.

"He's right. This ground is old but the walls in here are less than a year old!"

"Suddenly you can tell how old walls are? Convenient." Herbert remarked.

"The walls are young? What folly." Vein replied bluntly.

"Rollcka is able to tell as to how long these things in the court had lived. But the walls are much more younger than the ground itself." Jio told him.

"Who are you talking to?" Herbert asked.

"Who do you think? The white haired guy with the strange complexion wielding two katana's." Charlotte answered.

"I don't see anyone like that."

"He can't, but you three can because only virgins can see me. That skill your using is pretty useful, but can it detect something like..." Vein unsheathed his katana and plunged it with both hands on the hilt in the wall. The blade itself disappeared into a void, but was pried out with it sticking into the neck of another Wendingo. "This."

Charlotte and the others were baffled as to why virgins could only see Vein, but were even more so when Vein's katana emerged whilst inside the Wendigo's neck.

"Please tell me you saw that creature." Charlotte cried.

"Of course I can. Nice work, Charlotte."

Herbert could see the creature but he got the person who slayed it wrong. This man was the biggest mystery Charlotte ever met. He sheathed his blade in and started walking in a nonchalant way.

"Once you enter this place you cannot leave through the front door. If you ever want to get out of here, I suggest you follow me."

Charlotte, Hardy, and Jio didn't move. Vein moved on his own, disappeared from their sight, and only when they couldn't see him did they decide to follow after him. However, no sooner did they try to find him did they hear the slicing sound of his sword. They ran up to his location to see him slice a wooden draw bridge with two horizontal slashes breaking the bridge apart.

"I see you've thought it over, I assume?" he asked, looking over at the group.

"I guess so." Charlotte replied.

"Now why the hell did you slice the bridge apart?!" Hardy shouted.

"Other than vampire's cannot pass crossing water, this area was made by someone who plays tricks on people so crossing a bridge is more a trap. Now, do any of you have any sticky powers?"

"Well, I can actually morph into this gooey bubblegum-style creature." Hardy replied, before transforming into his bubblegum goo state.

"Thank you. Now forgive me for what needs to be done."

Vein reached out his hand to grab Hardy, but before his hand touched him sharp claws extended from his fingernails. He used those claws to scrap Hardy forward, agonizing pain and all as Hardy wailed.

"What on earth is he doing?" Herbert asked as he and the others watched.

Finally, Vein's eyes turned bulging red with yellow irises as he threw Hardy over the gap. Hardy's body stretched afar until his butt was on the other side and his face was in the front where Vein put his claws down.

"Are we done yet? Cause that hurt like hell!" Hardy asked. "Not just yet, young boy." Vein replied.

He made everyone move over Hardy which wasn't as painful as the stretching. After everyone was across, he twirled Hardy up until his pink form was wrapped around Vein's cocked left hand.

Once everyone, including Hardy was on the other side of the bridge, Vein was able to pull Hardy off of his hand. Now on the ground, he reverted back to his human form.

Vein hurt Hardy to get to the other side, by leaping off the ground and midair. Once he turned Hardy's pink goo form into a steel ball, he smashed right through the roof and landed on the ground.

Everyone was amazed at how powerful Vein really was, but all Hardy could do was shake his legs while he was bent over on all fours.

"Wow...that was awesome...and at the same time, it hurts!" he exclaimed.

"Here." Vein handed Hardy a small leave with a dot of red liquid on it. "Chew this."

Everyone stood still giving Vein time to make his way back up front, where he wanted. His steps slow and steady like a geisha girl swerving her drunk patrons.

Hardy seemed confused at first, but shrugged before beginning to eat the leaf. "Just what is that that you had given to him?" Charlotte asked.

"Worriment for your nakama. I had that for my friend, despite him being a real giant with an army at his side. Not to worry, it's a healing herb. Think of it as a reverse vampire effect, giving life back instead of sucking it dry."

Vein was right. After Hardy chewed, he shot back up with his arms in the air, smiling.

"Whoa! That was pretty cool, thanks!" he exclaimed.

"You're welcome, kid." Vein replied, smiling back.

Vein took three steps ahead of the group, but stopped and stabbed the stalagmites. Again, a monster was left with a puncture hole through his back and dropped dead.

The mystery on Vein was how he was so overpowered. A vampire using as much energy as his eyes alone seem to use would be bloodthirsty by now, but he didn't look thirsty.

"How long did it take you to find all this information about this cave?" Jio asked.

"One month to learn about this place before reaching the island, three months on the island to learn all this."

"What made you decide to study for three months!" Charlotte asked.

Herbert was very confused with Charlotte leaning to empty space.

"I had no choice. I can only see the light a day one month than have to stay away from the light for three months." Vein stopped, noticed a shadow on the wall, fell silent to show he was in deep contemplation.

Vein dashed towards the shadow; his body disappearing from sight in a misty way. In the shadows, the crew heard the pleading cries and last heroic roars of other people Vein was fighting all by himself...they're not standing a chance.

Vein walked slowly in his very geisha way out of the path, splattered blood all over his kimono. If he licked it off, Charlotte would squeal.

"How did you know there were people...no, how did you know to walk down there?" Hardy asked.

"Know what?" Herbert yelled, still clueless of Vein.

"I was made to lurk in the night, I can tell shadows from caverns any day." Vein started walking back to the group. He froze when he was one step away from Charlotte. His eyes twitched a little through his statue composure. "I missed one."

Charlotte sharpened her teeth, Hardy molded his hands into a shark face looking hammer, and Jio raised three giant slabs of rock off the ground ready to launch.

However, the one who walked out of the shadows was a limping elderly man with a long wizen beard and a gash on his shaven head.

"Help...please help me. This vile man walked into my home, killed my family, and plans on killing you with me. You must stop him before he does."

The old man's words had everyone turn their attention to Vein, unwavering and not even dripping with sweat hearing the old man's accusations. His body seemed to be like a lizard camouflaged on a tree waiting to eat bugs.

"He's lying." Vein said, not even a faint sound of dread or stress.

The old man raised his arms up and moved faster towards Charlotte. She found one thing missing about this man compared to other old men. He fixated on that lingering memory not found on this man...Vein struck him in the chest with both his katana's.

Herbert didn't see Vein, but he did see the old man and he saw the horrified twisted look on the man's face while blood dripped from his chest. Slowly he saw the man twitch as his beard mysteriously shed from his chin.

Soon, he wasn't looking at an old man anymore. All he saw was the face of a werecat, a black cat with the black fur of a dragon with black and red in its pupils and fangs ready to bite.

He let out a long growl as he brandished his claws, and was ready to charge at him.

That didn't work as Vein grabbed the cat in one hand and lifted it to his face. The face furiously clawed and hissed at Vein trying to get free. Vein was just staring at it waiting for it to be drained of its energy, when the neutral look on his face turned into a wave of wrinkles and his teeth turned into giant dagger-esque fangs. He chewed through the face of the cat.

The werecat growled in pain as Vein's fangs chomped through his face, causing Charlotte and the the others to watch in surprise at his transformation.

Once he completed devoured the werecat's face, he tossed it to the ground.

"Forgive me. I didn't mean to show you something so...abysmal." He opened a steel fan from his sleeve to check on his face. Through the metal reflection, Charlotte saw no image of Vein.

"How come you don't see your reflection through that fan?" she asked.

"Some say it's because my soul has been taken away when I died and was brought back to life. Or it could be from how sun cannot touch me so a reflection can't either. Enough about me, do any of you want to look at my fan?"

"Um...no. I doubt there would be any fancy patterns on it." Charlotte replied, shaking her head 'no'.

He put his fan away in his kimono. "The next path will lead us to the big boss. Be prepared."

"A big boss, huh? Chances are, we might meet up with our other nakama for this one." Hardy said, referring to the other group that was investigating the courtroom.

Hardy had no idea how right he was. Although they didn't get as easy a walk as their group had. Pete wasn't as reliable or capable of a fighter like Vein.

"Well...I think we should press on." Charlotte told them.

"Agreed; but we should be careful...I think." Hardy replied.

Being careful wasn't what Fritz was doing. He just walked through any corner in his path because he believed there was no transgressions his powers couldn't overcome.

"I'm all for taking risks, for your information." he told Charlotte.

"That's fine; you do you." she replied.

Fritz, Etoile, Henry and Pete were encountered by a flying object. Fritz peeled this small thing off his shoulder and stared at...a cute little riceball with small hands and feet.

"Eat me." It said to Fritz in a cheerful voice. Fritz just shook his head. Then the riceball acted in an uncute, demonic way frowning at the former professor. "I'm going to kill you."

"A flying riceball?! And it wants to kill us?!" Etoile asked.

The riceball opened its little mouth and started chewing on Fritz's cheeks, who in turn started screaming like a girl. After that, more little riceballs rained down on top of Fritz, swarming him like termites.

"We can't just stand there, we've gotta find a way to repel this damn thing!" Henry exclaimed.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**I worked pretty long on getting this chapter finished, with help from CuddlyChristina of course, so I hope you nice readers enjoy this new chapter. **

X_X_X_X

Henry tried acting useful for once taking out his rifle and pointing it at the riceball monsters, but Etoile blocked it with a detached bloody hand.

"You'll shoot Fritz that way."

Fritz breathed very hard before a small wind explosion knocked away all the riceballs.

"Huh? What was that?" Pete asked.

As the riceballs began scattering together and attempting to flee, Fritz clutched his face as Etoile went to check up on him. Henry added, "Just what on earth made those critters freak out?"

"It must be this place. It's cursed." Fritz said, even though he didn't hear the explanation Vein gave him he still had a supernatural vibe in here.

"Yeah, but also, you probably missed something about Vein." Pete replied, mentioning Vein's supernatural vibe.

"Who the hell is Vein?!" Fritz yelled at the robot.

"I don't know. People keep mentioning his name, even saying he's in the room, but I have never seen this proclaimed Killer of All Except Pure Virgins."

"Killer of All Except Pure Virgins...strange title to have, but still..." Pete said, shaking his head in confusion over such a title.

Henry walked with his rifle up high and his eyes looking at the walls and ceiling. He also heard a deep rumble.

"Um...is there anybody out there?" he managed to ask, wondering as to where the rumbling came from as his teeth chattered.

He found his answer, and it landed on his shoulder. Henry let out a very shrill scream as something was jumping on his shoulder and pulling his hair.

Etoile saw it first, a sharp tooth cookie with tentacles around it.

"AAH! Get them off me!" Henry yelled as he ran around like crazy.

"Are these supposed to be food creatures?!" she asked.

Etoile was proven to be wrong when white spiders with one big glowing eye climbed down from the ceiling, Etoile's face turning completely white as her teeth clenched to her eyes.

"E-Eh...bugs!"

"This place must be crawling with these things!" Pete exclaimed. "Say, Fritz, do you think we can figure out a way to get past them?" he asked.

"I sure as hell do. Stop being a whiny scared red kitty and turn into your enormous werewolf form. And Henry, use the butt of your rifle to smash those cookies!"

Henry acted first slamming the butt of his rifle through the razor sharp teeth of one cookie. At the same time, Etoile shrugged, before morphing into her wolf form and began to attack the cookie creatures with her claws.

The bugs crawled towards her, their legs creating balls of cobwebs with every step. At last one grabbed Etoile from behind, but she shook it off.

She was able to grab it and throw it onto the ground, almost smashing it. At the same time, Henry had opened fire on the creatures.

All that was left was Fritz watching them fight back while he stood next to Pete.

"You alright?" Pete asked.

"I'm...fine, thanks for asking." Fritz replied.

"By the way, are you sure we can just stand there and spectate? I don't think it's a bad idea to join in the fight." Pete said.

It wasn't that Fritz wanted Henry and Etoile to fight alone-he just didn't want to get involved with cookies and spiders. However, as the frigid trickles of power came on his hand, he joined the charged right for the creatures, slashing at a few of them with his sword with quick precision.

It technically wasn't his sword nor was it even a sword. His sword of course being his powers creating a cluster of energy manifesting into a sword still slaying down his enemies.

Etoile and the others noticed this 'sword', and were taken by surprise at how it was helping him eradicate the enemy.

When the enemies were taken care of, Fritz used his left hand to tightly squeeze the hand that defeated the strange malicious beings. He was trying to suppress some kind of power he didn't want to implode around his friends.

"Why on earth is your hand glowing like that?" Henry asked, to which Fritz looked over at him. "I've been harnessing this strange ability since Charlotte and the rest of us banded together." he replied.

He didn't tell them how it could dangerously harm him and unleash energy strong even to blow up an island if he used it thoughtlessly.

"I'm not gonna go into detail, so let's press on." Fritz added.

Fritz waited until Henry and Etoile were walking in front of him-their eyes searching for any traps or a passageway-and after he was sure they were distracted he teared up a little. Fritz didn't want to die but without his sense of taste he couldn't control his powers as well as he used to.

"Hey, is there something wrong?" Pete asked as he instantly noticed Fritz.

"It's no concern of yours, robot. Just keep a watchful eye on those two."

As Pete nodded, Fritz wondered why he suddenly cared about their safety.

X_X_X_X

Vein said the final challenge was for Charlotte alone and vanished into thin air.

"This is as far as I walk with you. Behind that door you will find the boss, and although he is easy pickings for me he is a good experience for a young captain like you, Charlotte." Vein said.

Vein said the final challenge was for Charlotte alone and vanished into thin air.

"Huh...so it's only me that has to deal with this guy?" Charlotte said to herself, cupping her chin in thought.

Her fingers turned into claws while she whimpered outloud hoping someone would hear her cry for her. Her cry went to deaf ears as she opened the door and saw a man with silver fur jutting out of his back, like a hood that couldn't reach his head.

"So what brought you here?" she wanted to ask. Yet she did vaguely remember the time she briefly spoke while in her wolf form.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you...not now...not now."

Vein vanished from her sight. Charlotte was confused, he sounded like he was warning her yet there was a threatening tone in his voice. She was in a state of confusion in a pitch dark room. Worse part then being distracted...she wasn't alone.

Charlotte wasn't completely blind due to her animal eyes. She could make out a skinny woman with white skin, yellow eyes, thin hair combed on both sides to show her forehead, frilly circlet made of sapphire around her upper body while her lower body was covered in brown pants with two black thong straps sticking out on both sides of her midriff. She had a scorpion-esque appendage sticking out of her behind, and she was glaring at Charlotte...and then she readied her tail to plunge into Charlotte.

Charlotte noticed the tail and narrowly dodged the woman's attack.

"It's you, the daughter of the pirate king. Tell me...where is Fishman Karate Momo?" She went from hostile to interrogating while Charlotte was prancing from left to right.

"I won't tell you where my uncle is."

"If you continue to refuse, then I have no other choice but to kill you." the woman told Charlotte.

Charlotte showed her razor sharp teeth and took out her claws. She was ready for an all too familiar frenzy on the rude woman.

"Like I care what moves you try on me."

She charged for her, clawing at her with several strikes to the upper body area. But the scorpion-esque tail was good at blocking Charlotte's flurry of scratches.

The wolf woman was flabbergasted as to how she was able to deflect her moves. This distraction allowed her to coil her tail around Charlotte and fling her through the wall. After seven minutes of pitch darkness, the sunlight through the wall hurt.

Charlotte had been knocked out, but groaned as she felt the sunlight dawn over her. Once her retina's blocked out some of the glaring sunlight, she saw the bloodcurdling sight of the scorpion lady with some weird vendetta; she was after a Fishman in a wheelchair.

"I'll turn you inside out, and keep you alive with my injections until the venom loses its regenerating effects...unless you tell me where Momo is."

"Go to hell, why do you even want to find my uncle?" Charlotte snapped.

"He killed my father...a Shichibukai back when they were a split organization...Razor the Steel Scorpion."

"Your father? But how?" Charlotte asked out of slight confusion.

"How do you think? He wasn't just a robot roaming around sadistically killing people, he was brutal to everyone except his family. We were like his prize pigs, and he liked to feed us like them. That ended when your uncle shoved a metal pipe through his brain-we lost our home, our wealth, and people were scared to be in the same room as my mother and I. For that, I want to kill that loathsome Fishman."

"Well your father killed my Uncle Momo's mother, teacher, and dearest friend in cold blood with a vile look of glee on his face. My uncle just got his revenge and now...he has no one."

"Well someone has helped him. He wasn't in Water 7 and he wasn't in Skypiea. My intel was wrong, but surely he told you where he's trying to escape to."

"Truthfully, those were the only places I've met him so if he's not in either of them I can't help you-I never was gonna but now you know I have more than just your despicable to refute your demands."

She was so mad she grabbed Charlotte by her head and bashed her against the wall. With every bang, the pirate captain became more feral.

Charlotte wound up using her claws to scratch and maul at the scorpion woman, mainly in the lower area, as well as her stomach.

Her tail helped her pounce back, kicking Charlotte in the face. Their reflexes were so similarly fast it was uncanny, punching each other in the face. Their fight would go on long and heated, feral girl versus predator girl—and then a white skin male appeared.

"Langicla, that's enough. Charlotte leave her alone."

That of course didn't stop them from mauling at each other's necks. Since reason didn't work; he swung a  
giant pair of scissors.

"Listen to me, Death and your uncle slash guardian!"

This prompted Langicla to eventually notice, as did Charlotte.

She couldn't believe her eyes. From the tales of her fathers' adventures, he had one nakama who wasn't with him long, and this man before her was that nakama.

"Uncle Umbrage!" She exclaimed.

"I am not here to talk to you, Charlotte, nor is my name Umbrage anymore. Langicla, don't you want to take a breath and talk to your cousin?"

"She's not my cousin and she's not related to you, and your not my father your my guardian!" She yelled.

"It doesn't matter to me." was his blunt reply.

"Umbrage or whatever you call yourself, you may be my uncle but I'm not below accusing you of those nightmares you made me walk through." Charlotte spoke up.

"That's right. Once I replaced my name with Death over Umbrage, I gained the power to summon horrendous abominations. I made all of them to test you."

"And why did you test me for? So that I would be a worthy subordinate for you?" Charlotte asked.

"Subordinate? It's hard to have an underling when I am just a horseman for a power much greater than even a Pirate King, but if that was my goal you failed to be worthy. If it wasn't for a certain undead swordsman...you would die. Your instincts are weak, your courage is low, and what worked for your father doesn't work with you."

Umbrage's ear twitch. In a few seconds he would be confronted by the Pacifista he never got rid of, and he himself brought this giant mass of robotics by saying the P word.

It wasn't long before Pete, having briefly split from his group, showed up, to Umbrage's dismay. "You!" he exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"Me what?" Umbrage barked back.

Pete already opened his mouth to fire a laser beam at Umbrage.

This prompted Umbrage to narrowly dodge the beam, much to Pete's shock.

With shadows of tentacles he constricted the big robots movements-wrists and legs. And then, he raised his giant scissors to finish the sentient machine.

Pete felt he was done for, until Charlotte stepped in to help him out.

She grabbed the scissor with her sharp teeth. The scissors came to a halt right when the scissors almost cut through Pete.

"Who are you?" Pete asked.

Charlotte, thought didn't have time as she spat out the scissors, although she did ponder the idea of what to do with them: either use them against Umbrage, or just leave them alone.

Instead, she slipped on her gloves when she dropped his scissors. She was evening up the fight. Cracking her knuckles, she lunged and charged towards Umbrage, clawing into his body.

This action made Langicla mad, and while she was venting she saw a door open up behind Pete. Out of Pete some small creature wormed its way out, like a rat from a hole.

Almost instantly, Pete noticed it, and asked, "Bunnie, what are you doing?"

The creature in question was a small gray looking elf with ears longer than an ogres and two small teeth sticking out, hence the name Bunnie.

"Sorry, Pete, but another slash of those scissors could be fatal for me."

Charlotte was very confused.

"Who's this?" she simply asked.

"Oh, that's my elf familiar, Bunnie." Pete replied.

Herbert was the first to speak after hearing this weird information. "How many people stay close to something small and talkative?"

"He's been living in my mechanisms for a considerable amount of time." Pete replied. "Wait...this thing resides in you?" Etoile asked.

Before Pete could answer that, Vein swooped up to them riding a being unseen by most in all four Blue's: a wyvern. Not just any wyvern, a decayed looking wyvern with sickly silver, rotting scales and glowing red eyes.

"Did you miss me?" he joked.

"Vein? Where are you?" Bunnie asked.

"Seems you stopped being a virgin, Bunnie." Vein commented with shrunken eyes looking at him from aside. "Pete, can you see me?"

"I can, Vein."

"Very good." Vein replied with a smile.

"How'd you get here, anyway?" Pete asked.

"I followed the Pirate King's daughter after I heard a wolf girl challenged the queen of this island."

"I heard that too, but that wasn't too long ago." Bunnie said.

"Bloodfeud travels fast." Vein pat his undead wyvern.

The wyvern let out a comfortable growl as Hardy added, "There's a queen here?"

Vein rolled his eyes and shook his head. Ahead of him, Charlotte was ignorantly fighting her overpowered uncle who was just blocking her flurry of glove fist jabs with one hand and a pair of scissors.

Umbrage then chose to surprise her with an attack of his own. He used a his shadows on the tip of his sword, twirled around and fired the shadowy sphere directly into Charlotte.

She took the hit, hitting the ground almost instantly.

"Shadow Arachnid!"

Umbrage used the shadows in the ground to trap Charlotte in eight shadowy spider legs. Charlotte clenched her teeth, and her grunts would soon get the attention of her fellow nakama.

Umbrage stared at them and they stared at him.

"Hurting me, hitting my shadows with seastone, it won't do you any good." He said.

"So you're obviously immune to seastone?!" Fritz asked.

"Yes. As are the other three given their horses: a companion to follow them around born from a great pirate."

Pete charged up his mouth to fire at Umbrage, but he launched a dark ball into his mouth. Not soon after, the ball exploded inside him.

"And they say I have a loud windpipe." Umbrage murmured.

"How can you allow a serial killers' daughter to be your companion?!" Etoile shouted.

"Hey, daughters of serial killers have feelings too." Langicla groaned. "And who gave you permission to talk about my father that way?"

Etoile just grimaced.

Henry had a plan to hurt Umbrage. He used tape he wrapped around the scabbard over his sword. Then, he swung his blade left and right. With this scabbard now on, he could hit Umbrage without holding back his strength.

Therefore, when he finally struck him, Umbrage felt something hit him on the side, and tried searching for as to where the blow came from.

He turned to see a scrawny looking boy holding his sword that didn't even look like a real sword.

Henry thought to himself, _I'm trying to be as brave as I can...but at the end of the day, I'll still be a coward, right?_

Umbrage held his scissors the same way Henry held his sword. And after postulating for a tense amount of time, Umbrage swung his scissors!

Henry quickly deflected the attack, and as he grit his teeth, he swung his sword at him again, giving him a few strikes.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**So for the long wait for this chapter. Now that people are urged to stay home, I'll be posting all the chapters I managed to write today or next week. Thank you CuddlyChristina**

X_X_X_X

Umbrage sank into the ground. He vanished. He was going to reappear and strike with his scissors somewhere from the ground. Henry gasped, before looking around.

"Don't worry, Henry," Fritz said, his hands glowing blue with a strange light emitting from his palm. "I'll flush him out by blasting through this whole ground."

"Fritz...WAIT!" Henry yelled.

It was too late for Henry to stop Fritz. He stuck his hand in the ground and an earthquake tore the ground asunder, sinking Umbrage, Henry, Charlotte, and everyone close to them which was everyone present down.

"OH SHHIIIT!" Charlotte yelled as she and the others were brought down by the earthquake.

Hardy acted first morphing into a longer, wider version of himself until he was completely akin to a blanket. Charlotte and Etoile landed on him first.

"What...What just happened?" Etoile was the first to ask. Before long, the other nakama found themselves landing on the 'blanket' Hardy had made himself into.

Not long after they landed on an unknown part of his once human body, the undead wyvern swooped down leaning its back to them. It seemed like it wanted someone to hop on.

Charlotte was quick enough to notice, before getting on top of the creature, as did Etoile and the others. Charlotte, Etoile, and a reluctant Jio got on the wyvern first. Jio had an idea of using his rock moving powers Rollica bestowed on him to raise them up, but his spirit replied...

"Your rocks couldn't cushion a fall and it sure as hell can't lift anyone out of this crevice. Sorry, Jio-woosie, but let the scary undead guy's pet help you."

After they got out, the wyvern carried Henry, Herbert, and a now flesh Hardy. As for Pete and Bunnie, Pete carried him out with one hand holding the small elf and another hand climbing. As for Umbrage and Langicla, they weren't in the crevice.

"Do you think we made it out alright?" Henry asked.

"Of course we have; you don't have to sound so obvious!" Hardy told him.

The wyvern flew from the crew and towards its master, Vein. Vein treated the wyvern like a parrot, petting its head and feeding it for a good show. Instead of crackers though he fed it a purple pulsating lump. Beneath Vein's feet was an unconscious Fritz.

"Your nakama did well, however, for your own safety he must stay with me...for the time being." Vein said.

"Are you sure Fritz will be okay?" Charlotte asked him.

"I don't know." Vein replied.

Everyone waited for a "But" from Vein, except he was just staring at them trying to intimidate them off.

"Jesus, you asked for her so the least you can do is assure us he'll be safe!" Henry shouted.

"I just told you: **I. DON'T. KNOW.**" Vein simply said.

His anger made his wyvern roar. It took Veins gentle hands to calm it down.

"Please just sail away from this island, Wolffang Charlotte."

Charlotte took a deep breath as she closed her eyes while pondering things over.

"Vein, even though your clearly a vampire...I find you to be a good person. It is with a deep heart I leave Fritz in your care, but would you give us ignorant folks a chance to show our appreciation for all he's done by saying goodbye?"

Vein shrugged, before replying with a smile, "Very well, then. I bid you all farewell..."

With an unsheathe quick slash of his sword, Vein disappeared along with Fritz and his wyvern. The six remaining pirates were left completely in bewilderment.

"Now what?" Hardy asked.

X_X_X_X

A few hours of walking with a heavy heart, the crew got back to their ship—and they didn't make the same mistake getting back the Strawhat's did.

"I don't know..." was all that Charlotte replied to Hardy's inquiry.

Charlotte lost her first nakama. It was like how her father lost his nakama only it should hurt her less; it didn't.

X_X_X_X

Meanwhile, Vein had his hair in a ponytail and his hands in a cauldron of boiling water getting ready for a checkup.

"Let's see now..." he said to himself.

Fritz managed to open up his eyes, disoriented and having a worst aftertaste in his mouth than spending all day in his room with a cartoon of cigarettes or a hangover after being told he lost his job as a teacher-over and over again finding a new teaching job until he found the job that finally keeps him. Right now Fritz was focused on Vein, and he had a few questions for the katana wielding vampire.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"No."

"Are you going to fix my powers so I won't be able to use them again?"

"No."

"Are you just helping me because you saw something in Charlotte that made you want to help me?"

"No."

"Then why the hell are you keeping me on this bed?"

"You are losing control of your powers and it's making you hurt people. I won't stand ideally by while my future enemy is killed by her own nakama, accident or not."

"My powers? Are you saying that they're doing more harm than good?" Fritz asked.

"That's right." Vein simply replied.

"So what are you going to do? Bite me so you can absorb them?"

"I'm not that cruel." He replied. "I'll just keep you from reaching supernova with them. Now think of happy thoughts."

Fritz let out a drawn out sigh, before closing his eyes and beginning to envision himself relaxing at a beach.

In a beach there were lots of pretty girls, but when he saw them he saw his former students. He wasn't into younger girls, but his imagination couldn't picture older hotter girls. And then, he saw his spectacular colored cat, the student he was in love with.

Vein saw Charlotte as an ant standing high above her. "Hardest thing I have done in my life was letting my revenge go. I'm so sorry...so sorry..."

X_X_X_X

Charlotte slept for four hours while Henry maned the helm.

At the same time, Hardy asked, "Do you think we've let each other down by losing Fritz?"

"As a man who is sworn to try to uplift the spirits of all God's children, I'm inclined to say no," Jio said, "but as a member of the crew and a healthy male who wants us to get strong and meet a nice girl...I say if we weren't so dense he would still be with us."

"What do you know, Jio?" Etoile barked. "You've only been in this crew for a day, we were with Fritz for weeks and we know why his powers got so dangerous. It's because he lost his sense of taste."

"No sense of taste? But why would he lose something like that?" Jio asked out of confusion.

"It all happened when he got caught in the middle of an explosion." Hardy said.

Hardy and Henry glared at Herbert, tied to the mast.

"I had nothing to do with that." He said. "The voice in my head does."

"No it's not my fault! It's the doofus that has no one to blame but himself." the voice replied.

"So Charlotte is a shipwright and captain, Etoile is the cook, Henry is the ships sniper, Hardy is the item handler, so what does that make you, Herbert?" Jio asked.

"Believe it or not, doctor."

Herbert also added, "And what about you? Since you're obviously new to the team."

"My grandfather was a navigator. I may not know much about maps or how to encompass the sea, but if there's one thing I know it's remembering where my feet have surprisingly not been scorched off." Jio replied.

"Okay, but if your going to be on this crew your going to dress less...in a yutaka." Etoile said.

"Okay, fair game to me. But about the clothes, do you think I'd be wearing a lot more?" Jio asked.

"Why not wear kimonos more often?" Yukino asked. Both she Mikio had been instrumental in the previous adventures, but were able to learn of them thanks to Charlotte.

Jio looked at the new girl giving him advice. "Who are you?"

"I am Yukino, and this is my brother Mikio." Yukino replied, and Mikio showed up next to her. "Hey there!"

"Yukino and Mikio...exotic names for exotic people." Jio said.

Jio looked at Hardy for answers. When he shrugged it off, he looked at Henry. Henry also acted like he didn't know them.

"I thought we were stuck with a crew of five without Fritz and not including Herbert, but now including Herbert there's eight nakama."

"Well, we encountered these two some time ago, and believe it or not, an undersea train was involved." Eloise said.

"Not only were we on the train, we were attacked by hard shelled undead." Henry explained.

"I see..." Jio said, cupping his chin in amusement.

"Come to think of it, Charlotte had told us about this Vein fellow, and even this Pacifista named Pete, too. Though I wonder, if he got out of that mess alive along with that sidekick of his..." Mikio added.

"When?" Hardy asked. "She went to bed the moment we sailed off. Did one of your friends go into her room?"

"Pete's not here." Etoile said. "He's back on the island with Vein."

"Oh, yeah..." Mikio said, scratching the back of his head in slight confusion.

"Yeah. So if there's nothing else, our crew is on a journey with no directions to help achieve a goal...a whatever goal we haven't thought of. Thank you and good luck killing ragging feral humans."

A ship could never keep up with a train, unless it was tipped right side up like a mast for the train, on the side of it, glued to the side. Yes, normally a ship would break from the water torrent, but they found a way to keep it from breaking.

Charlotte was still in that ship, sulking in her bed. She refused to get out of there, so Henry stayed sitting on the mast; one wobbly foot and he would fall into the sea, but as sniper of the ship he had the range to protect his father.

She didn't care about that, as she could only self-deprecate herself of her failures.

Failing Fritz was bad, but she was also no match against an opponent who was only the child her estrange uncle was caring for. It seemed nothing could motivate her to get on with her life. Just when she thought she couldn't she got hungry. She had to get out of bed and eat, and even though meat doesn't make her feel more energetic, she decided to eat it.

"Hey, Charlotte; something wrong?" Hardy asked.

"No. I'm just hungry." she simply told him.

"I can help you find the one meat pantry in about thirteen non-meat pantries."

"Really?" Charlotte asked, before a faint smile arose on her lips. "Thanks, Hardy." she said.

True to his word, Hardy helped her avoid the organic food and vegetables to get that slab of sheep meat she was going to need. Charlotte was more than happy to start eating what she had truly wanted, to Hardy's delight. Henry was just even there. Ever since the island, he imagined himself being Charlotte's bodyguard.

"I think I should start manning up more often." he told Hardy.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'd like to become a muscle to Charlotte. A bodyguard of sorts." Henry said. This prompted Hardy to nearly flinch in surprise.

"I've been with Charlotte longer than anyone else on this crew and I can say she doesn't need a bodyguard. She hates men who think girls can't take care of themselves."

"Well, I...I think Charlotte's...well, a pretty strong-willed girl. Even if our first encounter was rough to begin." Henry replied.

It was hard for him to fillip his mouth about his captain when she was tossing meat around trying to decide which one to eat.

At the same time, her ears perked up, which prompted Charlotte to stop eating and smile. "Well, it looks like you have grown a pair of balls after all." she told Henry.

Henry took that as a compliment. Charlotte got the meat now she needed to make it roast so it wasn't raw. Henry was more than happy to help out roasting the food alongside Charlotte. Hardy smiled as the two were cooking together.

"I better check up on Etoile, Jio, and Herbert." He said.

He went to go locate the aforementioned three, starting with Herbert. Herbert was in the engine room with a girl wearing a sleeveless shirt. Just from her backside, Hardy could tell she was working hard and had a hard body.

"Doing okay?" Herbert heard Hardy call out. He looked over his shoulder and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. I almost didn't hear you due to the noise in here."

"Excuse me, but who are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm the assassin with two minds and fast reflexes. My name is Herbert." He replied.

"Well, I'm Doris. I just work here." Doris replied.

"I see that; I was just checking up on you guys." Hardy replied, to which Herbert nodded in agreement.

"Between you and me, I don't mess with girls. Even my voices don't want me to fight them."

"You fought three girls the day we met!" Hardy exclaimed.

"Allegedly." Herbert replied. "It's either me or the voices."

"Hey, he took it upon himself to do it, not me!" the voice exclaimed, causing Herbert to lightly smack his head in annoyance.

Hardy left Herbert alone with Doris. She seemed capable of knocking him out herself. He walked out of the room and roamed the hall until he saw Jio, clapping his hands together while standing near a closed door.

"Hey Jio. Whatcha doing?" Hardy asked.

"Giving a blessing."

"Giving a what?"

Jio's attention seemed to be on the door, so Hardy opened the door to see what was inside. He saw feet; two sets rubbing together with a bed sheet over them. He walked into two people making love on a bed.

"Oh shit!" Hardy exclaimed, prompting the couple to nearly notice him until he fled.

He ran right past Etoile, who was doing pushups in a room with the lights off.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks once he'd narrowly recognize her, and asked, "Oh, hey. How's it going, Etoile?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just working out, possibly to impress that hunk from the racing competition." Etoile replied with a dreamy smile.

Hardy saw everyone and finally got an idea on how to stay clear of them.

And when he returned to his captain, she was talking to this trains captain. Henry was just standing beside her.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt, but can I join in on the conversation?" he asked.

Henry morphed into a cute kangaroo baby just to get a yes from his captain.

"Whoa! How are you able to transform into that?" Hardy asked, as he and Charlotte were noticeably surprised.

He blinked his eyes. His eyes bulged with a round blob of pink bubblegum. "Still my powers, but my own skin or my fragments of color can change like a chameleon with my powers. Can I join you?"

After that bizarre choice of displaying his powers to everyone, he sat down in his human form spouting suggestions.

"Did you know after Razi became Pirate King, that a rebellion of demi-humans started growing in the direction we are heading to now?" He asked.

"You mean Minks?" Mikio said. "What about them?"

"Well I'm not much of a fighter, but since you know how well I am at disguising...maybe I can distract them in a Mink form, mingle if I can, while your train goes around their barrier."

"How do you expect to get to the island?" Charlotte asked. "Devil Fruit users can't swim and we can't get close without this supposed distraction."

"Minks have problems with trash in the sea just like every living being since we rely on water to survive. Trash can by trash piece, you rip a part of my malleable body away so I can stick to it as gum, and morph my body back when every can is brought to the island." Hardy said.

"That sounds like a dumb plan that will surely make you lose pieces of your body you are going to miss, not to mention damage the ocean." Jio said, walking back after giving out a "blessing".

Hardy shuddered at the thought of permanently losing a limb.

Yukino raised her hand getting the three boys and only one other girls attention.

"Charlotte, your a werewolf, right? Why don't we pass you off as a Mink? You could be a wolf Mink. All you need is Hardy to take off some of his bubblegum body and use it to cover all your body with artificial fur."

"Problem with that is skin suffocation." Charlotte replied. "If I cover my body completely in gum, I might die."

"Not if, and hear me out, we keep your back shaved. You can say you lost it from a hunter trap." Mikino suggested.

Charlotte was surprised by Yukino's suggestion, but felt like it would certainly work...maybe.

"Just one question, for Hardy." Mikio said. "How did you know about the Mink island?"

Hardy smiled but it faded into a reminiscent stare. "Because the oppressed speak to the oppressed."

**_Flashback:_**

Hardy was only eight and yet this was the fourth time a man pointed a gun at him and Levi's face, all because the guardian needed work and he wouldn't hire...all because Levi couldn't be seen in a store no matter how fancy he dressed.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this chapter. Now once I post it I'll finally get to have a good nights sleep. **

X_X_X_X

It wasn't just the failed job interview, every time they walked they would see the grimace on the townspeople's faces and had to look down so the townpeople didn't provoke them.

"When your mother died your father promised to make sure your safe and get a good education. After your father went missing your grandfather promised the same thing. And after he stayed behind to help you escape, I promised him I would carry out that promise. I'm sorry, Hardy, that you have no adults in your life who can keep their promises." Levi said.

Hardy frowned, letting out a bleak sigh. All this bad luck changed the moment they ran into someone with a sword and blond hair. He looked like the townspeople, but he seemed completely different.

"Are you two tired of the life you live and want to move...to a completely different place?" He asked.

"We have our problems but what your telling us sounds like something our preacher would offer, and no one takes everything their teacher monologues seriously anymore." Levi replied.

"Okay. But just let me give something to your son."

The man reached his hand out and it vanished like an optical illusion. The hand returned with a hat being grasped. Hardy was surprised but at the same time curious as to what was inside the hat.

He reached into the hat and pulled out a violin. "What you need...it gives you. You don't ask it to give, you can't make it give, you can only need it and that's called self-reflection."

He put the hat on Hardy's face while playing his violin, now with both hands.

Hardy's frown soon transformed into a smile, before he pondered over what he had in mind. Surely, the hat would deliver.

"Yeah, yeah, nice tricks." Levi said in his cynical voice of the way he was tormented by people like the man before him. "We are leaving now and taking your hat with us."

This prompted Hardy to hold onto the hat almost immediately.

The guy waved goodbye to the young boy and the young man before he walked away from them. After that, Levi went to another place to find work. This time the manager was just saying rude things to him by his appearance alone.

But he did offer Levi a job, if he worked for only thirty Beli a day at a nine hour shift day. Levi agreed simply because it would stop Hardy from starving.

To him, Levi felt like a good friend to him.

"I finally got a job. Let's go get you some books to prepare for school." Levi said.

"I don't think they want us in there." Hardy replied, shuddering like he was useless.

"Oh, come on! It's only harmless!" Levi exclaimed with a smile.

Hardy knew he was right but nervously laughed that he was wrong.

The lunch was awful, the chefs not even trying to cook their meals and everyone leaving because they didn't want to be in the same restaurant as _them._ At least it was a hot meal for once.

The next day, Hardy got to go to school. This school was an isolation to happen. He was alone in a white room with a rusty chair and a table with carvings on it. He didn't know if there were any teachers present.

That's when a teacher walked in, a man in his thirties wearing a suit and carrying an apple. He looked at Hardy and sighed. And then, he started chewing on his apple. He chewed and chewed; by the time he finished chewing he already chewed one hundred and fifty times.

"Open your book and go to Chapter 1."

Hardy could only comply as he opened his book and started reading that certain chapter.

The teacher kept taking a bite and chewing so many times on each bite, it was astounding in a scary way. The teacher was chewing not making sure Hardy was reading, not that Hardy couldn't read it but reading wasn't the same as understanding.

At the end of the day—six hours of a teacher with no help other than watching a young starving kid try to learn—Hardy was reunited with Levi who told him he worked in the back, dusting shelves and moving inventory...out of daylight and out of sight.

"So how was school?" he asked.

"Terrible." Hardy simply replied.

"That's too bad. Did you at least get to talk to the other kids?"

"There were no other kids. I was taught alone...if you count reading while some overpaid pig chews more than a mouse that."

Levi suddenly frowned, as he simply couldn't help but feel bad for the poor boy.

One day, Hardy just decided to walk out of the classroom only a half hour in to see if his teacher would do anything to stop him. He didn't. Hardy walked out of the building into the streets of xenophobe's and biased villagers. In that village, he saw his guardian Levi. He was pulling a very heavy chart through the roads. It seemed like a very important job, a job Levi liked most since he liked feeling like if he didn't hold onto something it would fall, but that job put him into the view of the villagers.

A job throw a cucumber at Levi. It bounced off his nose, making the surrounding adults cheer.

Hardy noticed and was surprised as to how Levi's nose seemingly deflected the vegetable.

The townspeople tried again, throwing dozens of fruits and vegetables simultaneously at the visitor who couldn't defend himself. But then, the fruits disappeared through an invisible wall. Wall was what Hardy believed, but the fruits and vegetables came back out in a reverse direction; heading back at the villagers.

The villagers eventually stood in stunned silence, before Levi told them, "Is that the best you can do?"

"Getting cocky when someone was helping you. Your welcome."

Hardy remembered that voice. It was the man who gave him the hat, and of today he had a sword in his hand.

"What's that you got in your hand?" he asked him about the sword.

"This? This is how I—" he was interrupted by a villager throwing a rock at him, causing him to react swinging his sword just after the rock hit, and swinging again causing the face of a manticore to appear through a hole and roar at the villager. "...get to move away from deplorable people."

When he swung out of reflex, a green fruit with lots of strange round grapes came out. It rolled right up to Hardy's feet, and he in turn wanted to eat it.

Hardy picked one up, examining it for a bit before asking, "Hey is this edible?"

No one answered him, but a voice in his head was telling him to just eat it.

'_It can't be helped, I guess...' _He shrugged, before taking a bite out of it.

At first it tasted great, but then it tasted like meat not cooked, the inside of a shoe, and fish bones all together. Finally, Levi and the weird guy noticed him eating this strange fruit.

Levi didn't like the look of disgust on his small friends face, but the man had a strange smile on him.

"Amazing. Even though there are no Devil Fruit's in this dimension, he's still obtained it."

Hardy looked up and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Let's say you obtained a power and that power comes at...a small unnoticeable cost. It also means, in two days you will take up my offer that your guardian declined."

Hardy's eyes slightly widened in surprise. _'But what cost?'_ He thought to himself.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Krauss." He noticed Hardy was wearing the hat he gave him. Slowly and with gentle intention, he lifted Hardy's hat. He pulled out toothpaste and a brush from the hat, something Levi believed was another trick. "Devil Fruit's don't just taste bad. If left uncleaned, you'll build up plaque in your gums. Do me a favor and please brush those gums."

Hardy was surprised, but it seemed Krauss had a point concerning the whole 'brushing your teeth' thing.

Hardy gave in and started brushing his teeth. He felt weird. It felt like his own teeth were melting. Not shavings of once strong teeth chipping away, melting.

He then thought of something, before looking into his hat, and pulling out a tube of toothpaste, to his surprise.

His gums still felt weird. He reached his hand inside. He touched something small and sticky like candy. It could be just the toothpaste, but even hims gums had the same texture as toothpaste.

At last he took his finger out; a wiggling gelatinous small rod that was once his finger but now small and pink.

Hardy almost jolted in surprise, before taking a closer look. He was sort of unaware of the fact that he himself could turn into gum-like shapes.

The rest of the day was Hardy sitting down letting his bubblegum skin show while Levi worked the night shift. At last, he returned...red eyed and hunched.

Hardy took notice and was quick enough to find Levi and ask, "Are you allright?"

"The work was exhausting and worst of all it was in the dark. My eyes are in the darkness only to leave when it's dark. But the worst part was my boss might get a younger person a promotion over me, the xenophobe."

Hardy frowned, and couldn't help but give Levi a hug. That made the older boy smile, prompting him to hug him back.

The next day, Hardy was back sitting at the chair with his chewing teacher. Hardy used a bit of gum he put in his teachers' apple. Now, he was waiting for his reaction.

After over a dozen more quick and loud chewing sounds, the teacher practically barfed out his Apple. Instead, little droplets of solid chewing gum fell out.

He suddenly jolted in shock upon noticing the gum on the floor. "What is that?" he asked nervously.

Hardy didn't say anything to his ignorant teacher, but he did hide a smile on his little face.

The rest of the class the teacher never took a bite of one of his apples. He had no choice but to try talking to the eight year old demonym which included teaching him things Hardy didn't know just reading to himself. His class was the best one yet.

All that changed when he saw Levi on the streets...on the ground...being stomped on by three men wearing strange clothes.

"What do you want from me?!" Levi asked.

"Your don't belong here." One said, spitting after relaying that information. "Luckily you...you get to die here,"

The man pulled out a flintlock and aimed it right at Levi's head. Before he could pull the trigger, Hardy rushed in and raised his hands to shield guard his friend. The man looked at Hardy, not seeing that it was only a child protecting his friend, and talked in a cold calculating way.

"Three...Two...One...You should have moved before I said Zero."

The man pulled the flintlock and shot Hardy in the head.

X_X_X_X

Charlotte was able to finally reach the Mink Tribe's island.

"Well, here we are, guys." she told the other nakama as she helped anchor the ship.

None of her crew climbed aboard. They were humans and Charlotte was the only beastman among them.

"You think this a good idea to go down there?" Etoile asked.

"Well, what did you expect? We're going there for a reason." Charlotte replied.

"Where is Hardy?" Jio asked.

"He decided to find something to float to the island...not found on the train or our ship. He said it involved birds. Anyways, I'll go ahead and the rest of you skulk outside the village until I talk to you."

"Well, this sucks..." Mikio said under his breath.

Charlotte rolled her eyes before taking her new werewolf form and strutting to the village.

X_X_X_X

Meanwhile, Hardy was floating to the island one little bubblegum piece at a time latched to the dead bodies of seagulls.

He couldn't transform back into his human form—parts of him were attached to Charlotte in the form of fur—but he could turn into a petite form of a Mink. He turned into a green yellow spotted toad.

He let out a small ribbit, which nearly got her attention. Charlotte was the ostentatious one while Hardy was her eyes on the ground.

Eventually, they found a lone Mink picking berries by herself. Her appearance was that of a humanoid fox, a vixen as they were properly called. She was wearing a white blouse, her sleeves cut short, and a blue skirt with most of it cut off to show her orange-cream-colored ankles. Foxes, being a four-legged animal, meant that she needed lots of wiggle room, when she turned around...and they saw she had yellow eyes and a small pink scar on her orange nuzzle.

"Ehhmmm." Charlotte coughed, trying to get the vixen's attention.

She turned to Charlotte, sniffing her small black nose on her. She seemed cold and calculating on first impression.

"You must be a monster." she said.

"Minks can actually talk?!" Charlotte asked out of bewilderment.

"I am a petty toad Mink working for this full fledged werewolf, who just wants to see the inside of your tribe. May we?" Hardy asked.

She looked at them, then she walked closer. Her long nose rubbed against Charlotte's wolf nose as she stared into the captain's eyes.

"No good for nothings are allowed in our village. You want to see it, you have to work to get in."

"Work? But how, exactly?" Charlotte asked, crossing her arms.

"Walk with me. I'll take you to a friend working as we speak. He hasn't been allowed inside yet and he's already pushed fifty-seven trolley's of fruit to the village."

Charlotte pondered briefly, before nodding and replying, "Very well then."

Hardy and Charlotte were lead to rails leading to a wooden gate, with a rhino Mink pulling on a trolley of fruit.

"Hey! Who are these nobodies?" he asked her.

"Never asked; they never said. Your names?" She asked.

"My name is Charlotte." Charlotte said, waving her furry arm.

"And my name is Hardy." Hardy said, doing a few short jumps greeting the vixen.

"My name is Kelsey, and this is Randy, who happens to be a friend of mine." Kelsey replied.

Kelsey roamed the woods and came back with a smaller trolley and an axe.

"Charlotte, you'll be cutting down trees. Hardy, you'll also be pulling fruit inside with Randy." Hardy immediately raised his hand. "I thought I made your job perfectly clear, but go ahead."

"I want to be the one to cut down the trees."

"What makes you want to say that, Randy?" Kelsey looked over at Randy with a raised eyebrow.

"Down here." She looked down, saw the little toad waving at her. "Because I know how to use an axe."

"Really? You're just some toad." Kelsey retorted, crossing her arms with a smirk.

"Give me that axe and you'll see what a toad can do." He stated.

She gave in and handed the small toad an axe. Despite his small stature, he walked up to a tree and leaped, swinging his axe like a cyclone against the tree. His slash only left a small slash mark. Kelsey was unimpressed.

Just when she was about to take that axe away from him, the tree rattled on the bottom and fell on the ground.

"So strong." She said out loud, thinking she wouldn't cause any attention doing so.

Hardy didn't cause the tree to fall, Jio did with Rollicka's help. He was hiding behind the trees.

"Shouldn't you have used that power to help move the trolley's?" Rollicka asked his friend.

"Hardy wanted to get an axe cutting job so I helped him get one."

After that showmanship, Hardy was allowed to use the axe to cut down trees. He asked permission to cut down trees in isolation, which Kelsey gave him. His plan was to walk where no one could see him, then cut down the trees in his true form.

"I guess he wants to work on his own, I believe." Randy told Kelsey.

"Perhaps." was her reply.

Both Minks turned to Charlotte. She was pulling the heavier trolley with lots of fruit inside. While moving the trolley to the gate, her ears picked up someone repeating propaganda.

"All Minks are equals, but some Minks are more equal than others."

_ 'Equality?' _she thought to herself.

She pushed her back and forth to pull the trolley. She cared fruit in the dozens, most shaped like melons but some with cracks and a rotting smell in the core of the fruits.

At the end of the day, she didn't get in, and she had to massage her arms.

"Being in my wolf hybrid form all day us exhausting." She groaned.

She took a brief look around, before noticing something familiar in the distance.

It was a man in a Marine attire followed by a man in his late forties with shaggy silver hair, a dark blue trench coat, a hilt of a long shaft weapon sticking out of his coat, with carvings on the back of his head. The Marine was just a uniform that happens to have a long teeth, green eyes, spaghetti black haired, four foot man.

Most people couldn't see what they look like in the dark, but Charlotte had special eyes being a Zoan fruit user, so long as she was in her true wolf form. They were walking to a figure much harder to read-bulky with a tail-holding a baby. The two other men were carrying two containers in their hands.

This was where Charlotte became curious. Once the two reached the other guy, they swapped what was in their hands. The two men took the baby and the bulky one took the containers.

"Etoile." Charlotte whispered.

She dropped from a tree branch, sank to the ground with her knees bent, and then stood up to Charlotte's level.

"I'm going to guess you want me to follow those two lanky figures. See where their taking that baby." She guessed.

Charlotte nodded, which prompted Etoile to focus her attention on the two figures. _ 'Just how the hell did she get here?' _she thought to herself.

Etoile moved like a ninja, moving from tree branch as she loomed over the suspicious Marines. She followed them until they reached a train that could move on water like the one her captain's ship was on, and then they pulled on the hatch and walked inside.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this chapter. I am glad to finally get a chapter posted on a weekend. **

X_X_X_X

This place was a lot more orange and red than the usual train she was in. Etoile could only wonder what they would do to a Mink infant, her eyes widening a bit in fear and curiosity.

She slowly crept through the hall trying not to be noticed or make a sound. Her creeping lead her to a room with a cage and a severed furry arm clinging from the inside, like it was trying to endure some kind of pain.

Although that room seemed creepy, there was nothing she could do about it so she continued moving. At last, she walked into a room with a baby Mink and a needle help by the big tooth scientist.

To her horror, it was dead, and it didn't take long for him to inject the little creature with what happened to be some sort of serum. Etoile knew now what kind of lab show these two were pulling. She was going to report back to Charlotte. Then, the ears of that baby Mink propped out.

It looked like as though it was revived, at least to her. But it wasn't the same baby. This was a wolf Mink, the one that was dead was a rabbit Mink. Etoile didn't know why looking at a wolf Mink was causing her to clench her fist, but she wanted to fight these two.

X_X_X_X

Meanwhile...

Charlotte went to Herbert to ask him to spy on the Mink base inside.

"So you needed me to get in there and see what's going on?" he asked.

"Correct." she replied with a nod.

"Sure, I can do that. Although these Mink's might have nocturnal animal qualities, they can never outmatch my implants. How should I contact you when your out here with two Mink's watching your back?"

Herbert turned around and ran in the direction of the base. The nearest tree he found, he climbed it up until he reached the branch and jumped into the base.

Once inside, he was confident he could get things done. But what he didn't know, was that Etoile was also somewhere in the base.

Inside, he saw words written in paint on the wall. Some were dry paint with wet paint stricken over the dry paint and just wet paint.

"A goodie wears a pelt; not skin or carry a pelt." That line was dry but covered wet.

' _Is this supposed to be cryptic or something?' _Herbert thought to himself.

A deer and a panda are walking this way, hide behind that cauldron." Herbert was told by the voice in his head.

His chip had a three hundred and sixty degree span of the area. What it told Herbert was the truth.

He was able to take its advice to heart, and began locating the cauldron in to hide behind.

All it took was a simple bit of camouflage and they just passed by not seeing him. It was a relief that he wasn't spotted, but he heard a vexing laugh coming from a closeby house.

"I think there's something that makes me wonder where it's coming from." Herbert said.

"Are you sure? Because I doubt there's anyone else besides you...and to a lesser extent, me." the voice replied.

Herbert followed that once small sound to a loud laugh belonging to a parsimonious person. Herbert found a house bigger than everyone's small huts and peeked inside. Inside, he saw the fattest lion Mink sitting on a chair, a salamander Mink heating a log that was under his pampered paws.

"You think we should greet them?" the voice asked.

"Are you kidding? Why would I do that for?" Herbert told him with an annoyed expression.

Herbert just watched to see why a lion was enjoying himself in the middle of the night...and why he was so fat. As he watched, he saw the show the lion was watching. Three Mink's in sparkly bikini's and red underwear were dancing like flamingo's in front of him.

"Oh, just some random erotic TV show." Herbert said. This caused the lion mink to almost hear him and take notice.

But the girls there weren't on a TV, they were blushing in the face and cowering their chests when the lion wasn't looking. They were there and dancing against their wills...until he swished his left paw and they hurriedly left the room.

"How did you get here?" he asked with a fairly stern expression.

Herbert gulped. He thought his position was found. He had to go, only turns out he didn't have to. The one he was talking to was another lion.

"I was given directions by a wise owl Mink."

"Really? And how?" the salamander Mink asked.

He glared at the salamander before answering.

"Someone told the owl to tell me. They wanted me to visit this paradise."

The fatter lion licked his lips, those words being music to his ears. He finally got off his chair and walked to a drawer. He pulled open the drawer—the salamander annoyed while the other lion silent—the lion pulled out a medal.

"For you." He told the lion.

Herbert raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What's this?" he asked as he took the medal from his hands.

"It's a medal the leader gives to lion Mink's." The salamander explained.

"Untrue," the lion said. "I give it to all Mink's when they deserve it. He's traveled a long way to get here."

"I basically crossed the Grand Line and the Red Line to get here, lived here for two years, and I was never handed a medal."

He scowled at the salamander for making a point, "Go fetch me another log for you to burn,"

Herbert kept his eyes on the salamander being slaved around. While his attention was diverted, a Mink screamed.

"There's an intruder!" he yelled, which prompted the guards to quickly notice and hear him.

"Uh oh, busted. So now what? You wanna deal with them face to face?" the A.I. asked Herbert.

"I do not consent to that!" Herbert yelled. "We are getting out of this place!"

"But Herbert-" the A.I. attempted to reason, but alas, to no avail.

And with that, Herbert took off running, attempting to evade the guards. Unfortunately for him, it seemed he wasn't able to outrun the quick Minks.

He leaped over the gate. Hopefully he was rid of them now.

With a thunderous heaving sound, the gate was opened and Minks bolted out.

"Oh shit..." he muttered to himself in exasperation and slight fear.

A mad raccoon-dog Mink was the first to charge towards Herbert. He was so close he could kick Herbert, but he stopped when a bullet made the sand on his feet explode. Herbert knew what could do that...a sniper rifle.

His eyes began scavenging the area, wondering just who shot the bullet in question.

He found him: Henry.

"Henry...?" Herbert asked in surprise.

"Shhh! Come find me, quickly!" Henry whispered in a fairly alert voice. This allowed Herbert to get up, and eventually look for him.

The Mink's retreated back to their hideout...

All except one and his nose could track Herbert with just a whiff of his nose.

X_X_X_X

Etoile wasn't going to fight, unless she had to.

Suddenly, she heard the sounds of the chase with Herbert, prompting her to take a brief listen.

She was so fixated on the sounds outside, she didn't notice the white haired man staring at her inside. He stared, he did nothing, and then he walked back to his master.

She breathed a sigh of relief, before pressing on.

She learned Herbert was indebted to Henry. It was cliche that two boys with similar names would be on their way to becoming friends.

In the room she was in, they were storing the wolf Mink.

She walked stealthily through the familiar copper wall hall with the eerie red lights until she reached the containment vessel holding the Mink.

"You want to get something to eat after this?" one of the workers asked.

"Maybe." another replied.

By then, they didn't notice Etoile sneaking in and grabbing the small Mink. She finally opened the container and tried sneaking through the air duct with the baby Mink nestled in her arm with its blanket wrapped tight. For some reason, holding this Mink was making her nose act a little stuffy.

She was only three steps away from the door, and yet she couldn't leave-had to stay and hide-because the toothy guy from before was coming.

As he stepped inside, she could also even hear his voice from below.

She knew he was coming, so she scuttled up on the pipes and crouched down, baby cradled in her arms.

Like she thought, he walked in with his bodyguard.

He was calm, naive about his baby that was taken.

"Where is the little critter we were supposed to be examining?" he asked.

"I don't know. Last time I saw him he was sleeping peacefully." the other one replied.

The smiley one stroked his chin while contemplating what do do. In the end, he just grabbed a box with a handle.

"Let's go back to that village and see if we can get some of that fruit he's harboring."

He ran out of the room in a flash, unlike his bodyguard. He sauntered to the door, but stopped on his way out.

"I know your watching us. Know that the only reason you're not a prisoner or dead is Marine business means nothing to me. All I want is one thing: a certain fishman."

_'A certain fishman?_ ' Etoile thought, assuming that the fishman in question was Momo.

The bodyguard left. Despite what he said, Etoile was hesitant to leave the room. After all, when a big burly man says he doesn't want to fight...it just shows he wants to fight like a coward.

X_X_X_X

Kelsey woke up expecting to see two nobody Mink's sleeping like babies. Instead, she awoke to see two hard working nobodies.

She called out, "Hey! Wake up and get your asses back to work!"

The only one who was awoken by this was her rhino worker bee because Charlotte was pushing pulling trolley's and Hardy was cutting down trees.

Randy blinked his eyes in confusion, before asking, "Huh? What's going on?"

"I said 'wake up', you clod!" Kelsey yelled, smacking him upside the head.

Randy was thick skin, but Kelsey hit him harder than his mother did, and she was a six-two muscle Mink.

His brain finally found the stimulus to see the two nobodies working before him.

"What? What's going on?" he asked, before noticing Charlotte and Hardy. "Oh, yeah...those two clowns, what are we supposed with them again?"

A"Get them to do hard work so we don't have to do so much back breaking work and the minutiae is left to the lions, the ones who think over work." Kelsey explained.

"Ugh...alright, fine. I'm on it." Randy replied, rubbing the back of his head.

He tried keeping up with Charlotte. The sleep deprived werewolf was pulling better than him.

"What's wrong with you, big guy? You've gotta work harder than that!" she told Randy.

Randy worked until his gray skin turned red and his eyes were trickling tears of exhaustion.

"Please, let me have a break!" he called out to Kelsey out of being burned out.

Kelsey had percolated brown liquid too bitter to be coffee. She gave one cup to Randy.

Randy quickly took a glug out of it, but nearly had the urge to puke due to it not being actual coffee. As he barfed it out, Charlotte and Hardy looked on with indifferent reactions.

"Is he going to be okay?" Hardy asked.

"Mind your own business and get back to-"

Kelsey was interrupted by the village gate opening, something that hardly happens since everyone inside the village never want to leave. She thought the option was they were letting people in-her, Randy, and maybe the nobodies.

"What's going on?" Randy asked Kelsey out of confusion.

Out walked a hedgehog Mink, taller than Hardy yet more rotund than him. He approached Kelsey.

"The boss wants you inside," he said.

"I'll be...we'll be there." She said.

The hedgehog Mink then turned to notice Charlotte and Hardy present in the forest. He asked Kelsey, "What are these humans doing here, by the way?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked. She looked at the werewolf and the toad. She didn't see any humans.

"Really? Dumb fox, look at their feet. The shape of the toad's feet are five toes not webbed feet? Who taught you about feet, a ghost?"

"Well, shit." Charlotte said under her breath.

Kelsey wasted no time showing her sharp teeth and preparing her claws to rip three claw marks into Charlotte; even one would make her happy.

Charlotte quickly morphed into her werewolf form, upping the ante for her battle with Kelsey.

Her left claw passed through Kelseya left swing and scratched her nose.

Kelsey grimaced as she briefly clutching her slightly bleeding nose, before fighting back by trying to scratch through her once more.

While those girls were mimicking wild animals scratching each other, Hardy was against Joey charging at him with his head down, flashing his horn.

Hardy didn't even bother dodging, he just let the horn impale his right side. While that horn was digging deep inside him, pink gum was sticking to the rhino's horn.

Randy didn't know that the gum was making it hard for him to pull out. Hardy raised his hands in the air and slammed his now enlarge fists into Randy's back.

Randy found himself crashing to the ground, his mouth agape by the boy's sudden strength. "Are you really that strong?!" he asked.

Hardy battered the rhino Mink up...just like he did to those bounty hunters.

**Flashback-Continued**

The towns people, the cats and dogs, and especially Levi were in shot. A pillow of smoke steamed out of the nuzzle in the bounty hunter's gun, before he raised it to his nose and whiffed up the heat.

It was clear the bounty hunters had no remorse or regret killing a young boy, but instead of his vertebrae bone and blood...they found only gum peeled away.

"W-What?" The bounty hunter gasped.

And soon, the gum merged together until all that was standing was a face; Hardy's angry face.

"You try and take me down, and I'll knock back up again!" he retorted to them.

X_X_X_X

Kelsey didn't know Randy was having his brain massaged up the nostrils by a being that can turn into bubblegum, but she at least was getting an upper hand against Charlotte.

She continued to punch at her, often relying on her claws to try and take Charlotte out.

"No way I'm losing to a human!" She exclaimed.

"I may be human," Charlotte smirked, pushing her elbow into Kelsey's. "But I have fangs."

In Charlotte's wolf hybrid form, she twirled her arms around before snarling at Kelsey. Kelsey moved her hands to stop what she believed to be her opponent biting her. Before she knew it, the end of a foot with a glove fitted on kicked her in the chin.

As she hit the ground, Charlotte was quick enough to figure out what it was.

Before Charlotte knew it, she was looking at two tails instead of one. One was made out of strong metal, the kind you'd use to make an android out of.

However, due to her having sustained injuries from Kelsey, she wound up passing out.

"Good. Now that fresh claw-nobody is done, I just have to get inside to tell that gout toed, overweight lion we might have-"

Hardy in his octopus gum form reached out to grab Kelsey.

Kelsey flinched as the gum-like creature took her by one of her legs.

Even in a panicked state, a human wouldn't be able to just gnaw their own leg off; desperate and filled with feral instincts Kelsey could chew off her leg just to pry out, swish her one real tail, and then claw at the boys eyes...if he had any.

Instead, she was thrown over the forest, yelping when she flew over the unconscious, beaten Randy.

Hardy looked like a big pancake that was stretched out and given six legs in his current form. Gradually, he shrunk and molded until he looked like the young dark skin boy he was.

Then he reached for his hat, and pulled out a vial or special medicine usually given to dogs...of which Charlotte was still half of their ancestors.

He ran to his captain with great haste. Like a vet trying to give a dog medicine, he held Charlotte's snout and pried it open. Once her shark teeth were bare, blood visible in her gums, he shoved a pill from the vial in her mouth...

That was the easy part...

Charlotte tried to spit it out in her stat if Hardy didn't clamp on her snout.

"Easy, easy captain. You'll feel better taking it in than you do swallowing it down." Hardy assured her.

Charlotte furiously scratched her hind-legs into the dirt and volatility, shaking her mouth and trying to pry her teeth open. Hardy was trying his best to subdue her, until a voice rang out.

"Excuse me, but do you need some help?"

Hardy turned to face him, and saw that it was a fox Mink.

This fox was different, mainly because it was a male fox Mink and didn't seem to be hostile towards humans like Kelsey was.

"Yes, please." Hardy said, keeping his eyes on the Mink but giving him a chance to help.

"I'd be more than happy to take you to my home, since you're both appearing to be very worn out." he replied.

Hardy nodded, and with Charlotte alongside him, they both followed the fox Mink to where he lived.

Unfortunately, his home was just a burrow, a hole in a hill remodeled to look like a home with a kitchen, chair, and bed. To make things even more complicated, Kelsey was curled up on the floor of his home.

"Are you alright?" The fox Mink asked the vixen.

She was half awake with her head raised up. "No, I was injured by our oldest foe: humans. Is this your home?"

"Yes, but you can lie down and sleep if your tired."

"Kelsey?!" Hardy asked. "How did she get here?"

Kelsey looked tired and beaten, she was even splotched with blood on her right shoulder.

The fox Mink replied, "Introductions, first. I'm Samuel."

"My name's Hardy, and this is Charlotte." Hardy said. "But...how did Kelsey get here?"

Samuel blinked, looked at Kelsey, then looked at Hardy and Charlotte longer.

"This may be a shot in the dark because I'm just a forest Mink not a town Mink, but looks to me your friend has the ability to move herself around places without using her feet. Sorta like her tail dragged her here."

"Seriously?! That's...actually pretty cool!" Hardy replied with a grin.

Samuel didn't move from his spot, he kept his eyes on Kelsey. It seemed like he was spacing out, captivated by the bloody form of her.

"Well, she may need some taking care of as much as your friend. So I'll need to check up on them and see if they're alright." he told Hardy. "Especially Kelsey." he added.

"Thank you, sir. I didn't want to hurt these two, but they attacked us first." Charlotte said. "Now excuse me while I go find a hedgehog."

Charlotte turned around and walked away.

"A hedgehog? What she'd mean by that?" Hardy asked, scratching his head out of confusion. However, when he overheard Kelsey's conversation that briefly mentioned the hedgehog Mink, he grimaced.

"I can't believe I missed how different their toes were from actual Mink toes, and some dumb hedgehog had to point it out to me."

Speaking of him, he was slowly trudging to the village-the slow Mink he was to begin with-when he spotted Charlotte racing towards him in a form he didn't anticipate: her pure wolf form. In an act of fear, he curled up into a giant spiky ball.

Charlotte, in her thoughts, taunted, "Come out, come out wherever you are, spiky!"

She couldn't get him out of his curl, but there was someone who could and fortunately for her, not to mention how much of a time saver it was, he was already sloshing his way over in a wet mound of moving gunk.

His gunky form encased the ball before squeezing tightly on him.

The hedgehog Mink growled and asked, "What the hell? Who's out there?!"

"Wolffang Charlotte." She said, leaning down and belittling him with her smile he couldn't see.

"Did you say...Wolffang? I don't know if I should be happy or scared your here, but maybe I can use you...what do you want?"

"To get inside the village and talk to your leader."

He uncurled his ball and emerged in a hunch over posture. His smile was big and his fingers were shaking.

"That can be arranged."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because _ I _am the leader." he replied.

He said that, but when he let them inside...there were large flags etched with black and white sewn dots resembling a lion in the village.

"My name is Aloysius." he added.

Charlotte knew a word to describe the banners and the rules written on the wall: propaganda. Suddenly, she was immediately noticed by the Mink villagers.

"It's the wolf that tried to kill one of our kind!" one villager called out.

The Mink ran like barbarian's ready to tear Charlotte limb from limb with their vast numbers, but she was saved by the gelatinous form of Hardy all oozing with pink bubblegum and whistling in an eerie way that gave him the appearance of a flesh eating monster.

"Oh shit! Run for your lives!" another Mink villager screamed in terror as he stepped back.

Charlotte sauntered through the village with Hardy close behind still bulbous and scary. According to the intel she got from Hardy, the mayor's house was close by.

She reached the door, before kicking it in, and startling the people inside. The mayor also noticed and asked, "Who goes there, intruder?!"

"My name is Charlotte. I wanted to have a peaceful negotiation, maybe some food and dinner as one of you, but your people attacked me so I'm going to get some decent treatment by being who I am."

"Pfffftt!" The lion mayor retorted. "The only thing your getting is my paw in your bitch face."

"Oh, just try me." Charlotte said with a smirk.

The lion mayor got out of his desk, and approached her with a glare.

He tried intimidating her moving his paws in a flurry of punches. He kept moving fast and reckless all the way from where he was to her...and she simply grabbed his left paw; his flurry was over and he was trembling in utter panic.

"D-Don't hurt me!" He cried. Charlotte moved his own paw to smack his own chubby face with it. When she stopped, he cried out in panic. "You can't do this! I'm the mayor...the king of this island!" He wailed.

"You were the king." Charlotte stated. "Now your just a cream and sugar replica of the beast you used to be." She smacked him again with his own paw. "That's probably why your hitting yourself."

"That's a lie!" he exclaimed.

"You're the one who's clearly lying!" she told him.

She pressed her fingers down on his pudgy meat bones that were once strong talon cocoons. Then she dragged him out of his luxury suit to be in the scorching heat where all his kin were.


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

**Thank you CuddlyChristina for helping me write this chapter. I think this may be the chapter that closes this arc or maybe not because can't remember all I wrote for this chapter. Anyways, thank you loyal readers. **

X_X_X_X

The mayor screeched as the hot sun over him was enough to make him feel like he was dehydrated, to his fellow Minks's shock. Charlotte felt strong...then she felt immense howling pain when a stray bullet was fired straight at her and tore through her left ear.

She stumbled to the ground, and turned her head to see who did this.

It was a big toothy Marine with a sniper rifle. Before she could move her legs to chase after him...severe damage was inflicted upon Hardy. Some green slush was poured over him, and this gush was corrosive since his bulbous body started to dissolve as he writhed in pain, nearly hopping on his solid pink bottom.

"I'm hit!" he called out to Charlotte.

She was so stressed the world around her looked black and white.

She reached Hardy. The first thing she desperately tried to do was pull something out of his hat that would neutralize the corrosive liquid. Before her hand could pull off his hat...her leg was shot off by the same gun.

Slumping to the ground, it seemed all hope was lost. The sniper didn't feel things were done. He raised his rifle preparing to fire.

He fired that bullet with Charlotte looking scared and helpless. She flinched her eyes shut and shuddered, the filial opposite of how Razi would see this. And then, the bullet was blocked by a twirling metal pipe wielded by a six foot tall blue Fishman.

"Huh...?" Charlotte managed to ask faintly.

"Charlotte!" Even though the person who saved her had fish skin, he could snap his fingers really loud. She still didn't know who it was because adrenaline was having the opposite effect on her brain due to her blood loss. "Hold on!"

A thought sprung up on her mind._ Is that...Momo I hear?_

It was him. For a moment she thought her uncle was a bipedal Fishman who could stand again, but he was the quadriplegic uncle she knew...and respected more. There was just one question in her mind.

'How did he manage to deflect those bullets?'

"Momo!"

The Marines bodyguard was leaning very close to the cliff while standing beside the sniper. Before the toothy marine could reload another round, he gripped his neck and squeezed him very hard, but let him go before he could kill him.

He clutched at his throat, and managed to utter, "What the hell's your problem, fish boy?!"

He jumped off the cliff and joined the quadriplegic in the village. He smiled that nasty smile that has been kept to himself for so long.

"I finally get to face you, old friend." He smiled.

"Nice to see you too, Giru. Your looking...more like me. Or as Emily used to say, gross." Momo said.

"That meant she liked you because she wouldn't even talk to someone she thought was very gross. And you...you killed her...with your attempt on revenge." Giru cracked his knuckles ready for the fight he was going to give Momo.

"I'm sorry. I failed then, but I made up for it by killing Razor and helping people like her...I have a daughter who looks up to me like Emily...looked up to Master Leopol."

"Well, Emily is only dead because of YOU! If you want to make it up to her...and master...then die already!"

Giru began charging for Momo, making the first move by attempting to punch him a few times.

What Giru didn't anticipate was Momo blowing on a metallic whistle under his chin that helped him move his pipe in the way of his fist.

He'd then strike him several times with his weapon, giving him amazing damage.

Giru should be foaming with rage being hit by that metal pipe, but all he felt was nostalgia.

"The only weapon you could ever use. Too bad it doesn't hurt like it used to."

Momo was perplexed by his statement. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious? You don't strike with your heart, your hands are gone so your weapon isn't the killing machine it used to be. And I've...I've toughened up to be like you, when you could punch bricks."

To make his point, Giru tried hitting him. Although Momo's weapon was weak, his skin was stronger than its ever been. It hurt him with every blow he inflicts.

Then Momo blew his whistle again...

It didn't take long for his pipe to strike Giru again, inflicting more damage.

Giru was stuck being a ball for a stick. Even when he tried taking the pipe, Momo pulled away from him. And then, the wheelchair confined Fishman actually jumped.

This completely floored Giru, his jaw hung in shock.

Momo used his shock to hit Giru right in his perplexed jaw.

Giru groaned as he felt said area being hit, clutching in pain. He had attempted to attack him again, but unfortunately, it didn't go in his favor.

"What's the matter, Giru?" Momo said, calm and in a way only taunting to Giru. "Fighting isn't doing you any good, so let's stop this foolharded mess."

"Three hits." Giru threatened. "One to knock you out. Two to kill you...three you go see both heaven and hell."

"Oh, try and do that. I know you won't be able to put me away." Momo replied.

Giru wasn't getting anywhere with his fists. He charged like a rhino into the wheelchair bound Fishman. Before he knew it, the wheelchair fell down on its right armchair. Immediately when it fell, Giru was propelled off the ground by some force stronger than Momo's pipe.

Giru asked to himself, "What is this?!" as he tried to figure out what it was.

"I've been more alive for the last seventeen years than you've been alive holding this grudge against me, Giru." said a brass Momo. He could flip his chair back upfront.

This battle was slow and so far one sided...and then Charlotte heard a familiar enthusiastic voice.

"Charlotte, I managed to rescue a baby!"

She then turned her attention, and saw that one of her nakama was there, holding an infant in her hands.

Etoile looked so proud and protective of that baby...with little wolf ears sticking out. Charlotte heard a gasp. She turned her head to see the mayor on the ground panicking and choking on his own voice.

"You bitch! You killed us all!"

Charlotte was left shocked and perplexed; it was clear that she didn't know what to do.

She needed answers, and the best way to make a pig squeal was by wrangling it by the neck. She moved to the white lion and grabbed him.

"What's gotten you so scared, ghost?" She said very intimidatingly.

"I-I will...never tell." He choked. "Do your worse, bit-"

"He put a virus in the baby."

Charlotte heard that voice before. She looked behind to see Samuel walked in, pale and scared.

"I wasn't born on this island, I was born in an island full of foxes. Then, a fox baby washed ashore. At first it was loved, adopted, fed, and clothed...but the more it stayed the more my people started to face ailing health and get the plague. I wasn't getting sick, but my people started dying. I did the only thing I could, bury the survivors and then leave on a raft with food where I floated for two weeks...until I made it here."

Both Charlotte and Etoile were both shocked and speechless, with the latter looking down on the infant out of fear.

Charlotte's first instinct was to get rid of the baby, but Etoile was being protective of the baby, holding it like a mommy despite the hateful glares she was getting.

"Etoile, have you lost your mind?!" Charlotte asked.

"But...what if there's a way to treat him?" Etoile inquired.

"There's no treatment for it on this island." Samuel said, weeping as he said it. "I've been through this whole island and not a single thing but first, animals, and the same beautiful but deadly plants. And when that baby leaves the island...it will infect everyone close to it. Do what my people never wanted to do-we were too benevolent in our minds and in our blood. Kill it here and now."

Etoile gasped out of horror, looking over at Charlotte and the others.

Charlotte thought losing an ear and getting shot in the leg was bad, but a choice on a baby's life hurt her more.

"What do you think, Hardy? Do you seriously we'd let the baby live?" she asked Hardy.

"You can't...but I won't let anyone here hurt a child...but I know he can't stay on this island. I may still have a heart, but my body can become a mound of bubblegum that can protect me from this virus."

"And I have a slight blood moving sanctuary that will help me fight off this virus better than anyone here." Etoile said, still downtrodden about what this choice entailed. "Therefore, I'm getting my...or our own raft and sailing away with this child."

Giru was amazed that the dark skin lad wasn't a puddle of green acid by now. Someone saved him while he was quarreling it out with Momo. Although intrigued by this development, he scampered away from the group in fear of this virus.

But he didn't just leave alone. He picked up the unconscious body of his Marine boss and ran to the boat.

"I will still find you and get my revenge on you, Momo. For Anna."

Hardy tipped his hat, and took off. At the same time, Etoile told Charlotte, "I'm going; you'll never hurt this child." before following his lead.

Hardy was shinning for someone once moribund looking. Charlotte was a proud girl, someone who didn't usually hug people because of how she was still self conscious about her bulbous belly, but she hugged her friend all the way her arms could reach.

"I'll miss you," she whispered.

"I'll be back, captain. But you'll be a captain...and I'll be a father."

Charlotte smiled at him, and as they left, she turned her attention to the other three men.

She had to give an order on whether to leave or whether to punch the white lion. She wanted to hit him, but he wasn't worth it. These people she wasn't even sure if they were innocent or not.

Taking back her human form, Charlotte let out a sigh, before she told them, "Let's get out of here."

"Wait, there's something I need to tell you if you are to sail again." Samuel replied.

Charlotte stopped and turned to the so far nicest Mink she's met on this damnable island.

"Yes?" she asked. "I suppose you want to give me some advice about being out there?"

Samuel nodded his head.

"Your pirates, right. You have two human enemies out there, and at least a dozen other things that will be like enemies. First is the Marines, the most common threat even cubs know about. Second, there are pirates too out there...only these ones look down on pirates who aren't in the high bounty area. I wrote a map on the islands not to sail to...because if you do you'll be twisted, chopped, eaten, killed...and then they could even keep murdering you for eternity with their abilities."

Charlotte couldn't help but ponder things over, cupping her chin in thought.

She tried taking this information to Yukino on the train, but by the time she made it back to the train...all she saw was her ship. It seemed the train had left.

'_Sounds like I'll just take the ship_,' she thought to herself as she sighed.

Little did she know that inside the now moving train was Etoile cradling the baby inside a mushroom-esque bubblegum Hardy with holes for her to breath.

For now, the only ones to see her off were Samueal, Kelsey, and her uncle Momo.

As Samuel said his goodbyes to Charlotte, Kelsey awoke, and asked, "What the hell just happened?!"

Henry had to clear his throat to explain.

"Your mayor was smacked by my captain like a baby getting a spanking, the fish man to your right fought a Marine, and two of our nakama left to help a sick baby."

Kelsey groaned as she looked around, and replied, "Thanks...I guess." Suddenly, she paused. "Wait...a sick baby Mink? But how?!"

Charlotte being the captain had to explain, but being in this island she had to suspect something like this occurred.

"Was there any virus happening on this island?" she asked. "It's a pretty long story, Kelsey." Charlotte replied.

"And I think it's best I tell you the whole thing." Samuel offered.

"Okay. I'd learn more from another fox Mink than a wolf Zoan."

Samuel and Kelsey left. It was a shame, Charlotte kinda wanted him to be on her crew but he knew he was swayed by another "fox".

But for now, she had to be occupied with whatever was on her to-do list for today.

Elsewhere, a hooded woman was watching over her child.

She saw a girl not ready for the Red Line about to sail away to the Red Line.

"Be safe," she muttered.

A smile crept onto her lips, before she took off.

Charlotte heard some sage advice from Momo before she left the island: don't be a captain. He said she was better at thinking things ahead unlike Razi, but she couldn't act in situations like Razi could.

"So, it looks like we're off, aren't we?" Henry asked. "It's too bad that a couple of us are absent..." he added.

Herbert agreed but he didn't have the slightest vocals to tell someone who he had no kinship with.

"So what now?" he inquired Charlotte, crossing his arms.

"Momo says we sail until we reach the Red Line...where we either backtrack until he says we stop at an island we can learn from or we rendezvous with some old friends of his."

"Sounds fine in our book." Henry replied with a nod.

Charlotte still sighed a heavy unhappy puff knowing her luck just keeps getting worse.

X_X_X_X

Years ago a man appeared on the ship, then got away and was never seen again...at least for one year and came back to Razi and Eiza.

Razi and Eiza were finding jobs on Water 7. In this diverse island, there were plenty of jobs for them to look at.

"Let's see...librarian, teacher, bartender..." Razi said to himself while cupping his chin in thought.

"Those are more jobs I'd be suited for," Eiza said. "You'll do better as a dog trainer or a shipwright."

Razi shrugged, before replying, "Sounds fine, in my opinion."

Razi knew dogs could sense he was more wolf than man so being a trainer was more like being an adversary to them. He chose to try being a shipwright...too bad he couldn't walk without someone approaching him.

"Then again, I don't really think either one sounds fine." he told Eiza.

"We are not a crew so ergo I don't take orders from you, so stop lagging around and get your tail a** to that shipwright station, get on your knees, and beg for a job!" Eiza shouted.

Razi sighed, before replying, "Fine. I'll do it; I'm not sure if things will turn out for the better though." Eiza nodded in agreement, her annoyance transforming into happiness.

Razi had no map, but he could use his main sense to help him find the shipwright yard: smell. He wasn't a dog, not as fascinated or jovially interested in trees, but he had a good direction to wood.

He finally made it to the location where a dark skin muscular man with a big mustache and sunglasses was barking orders.

"Excuse me, but what are you doin' here?" he asked Razi.

"Uh, I was just here to get a job working a shipwright, sir." he replied.

He took a very long look at Razi. Razi had a confident smile on his face.

"You won't be here to help build ships, but if you can hammer and lift heavy wood planks, your hired." Razi was happy enough to want to hug this tall tough guy, but he had an international thought he didn't want Razi to know. '_That's the king of the pirates Wolffang Razi. He's hiding here?'_

Some of the man's associates took notice and temporarily stopped working. "He's here?!" one asked.

The boss shushed him with his finger on his mouth and a loud whistling from his food hole. The worker immediately put his head down.

"Let me show you the area you'll be spending most of your work time."

"Okay..." Razi said, nodding in agreement.

Razi learned his job, and although he wasn't the best at it he got to keep it because first day was just learning the ropes. He actually enjoyed doing it, but life had a way of introducing a problem...a problem of a 5'7" foot male who was just itching to hurt him.

That aside, he had wondered how Eiza was faring with her own job search.

X_X_X_X

Eizawalked around trying to find a job without so much physical labor. Unfortunately, the best job for someone with a brain was operating a sea horse slide.

Having no other choice, Eiza went to see such a worker. "Greetings, miss. Are you here to work at the park?" she asked her.

She pursed her lips together and looked cynically at the place. Obviously she didn't want to say yes, but she had no choice but to.

"Yes."

"Well then, welcome to Party Land! The most beloved amusement park in all the...land!" the worker exclaimed.

Eiza rolled her eyes; she'd rather look at her left where she didn't see the amusement park. Just a few seconds without glancing at the park...she saw a man on his belly staring at her on the ground, and then he vanished. This sight almost made her flinch.

"What the hell was that?" she asked the worker, regarding the man on his stomach.

She looked again, but he was gone.

The worker shrugged, and Eiza rolled her eyes. "Great..." she muttered under her breath.

After a very long first day, she and Razi met up together and visited the landlord for their new home.

"So glad you came! Ready to see your new home sweet home?" the landlord asked with a grin.

To blend in with their soon to be neighbors, Eiza said she was Razi's fiancée and they keep their rings off because of work, but really it was just to lie low.

"You sure we know who are neighbors are?" Eiza asked.

"Yeesssssss." He sang jovially. "They invite you to their neighborhood potluck tomorrow."

"Uh huh...sounds interesting." Razi replied, cupping his chin in thought.

Eiza had to pay the landlord nine thousand beli for the first month in their new home.

She turned her head to Razi and asked, "What do you think? Does this new house look good to you?"

Razi had his ears moving like a hand groping something Eiza couldn't see. After that bizarre thing happened, Razi smiled.

"Sure. I hope it has enough rooms to put two beds in though."

"I hope so, too." Eiza replied, smiling back at her husband, before holding his hands.

Reconnaissance on the only two remaining Monster Pirates was finished. Now the mysterious figure knew where he was going to attack them. While they were checking their rooms, he slipped a note under the door's slit.

The note read as follows:

**CP9**

Eiza knew this wasn't a joke. Somehow the Marines found her and Razi...or just a copycat of a group the Marines hired. Either way, she needed an excuse to leave.

"Umm, Razi, I don't see any groceries here. I'll go buy some."

"Yeah, sure. Go ahead." Razi replied. Eiza nodded, before leaving the house.

While Eiza was outside, she would eventually bump into a man in a black suit. She asked, "Excuse me, but do I know you?"

He looked at her with bloodshot eyes and stood with strong calf muscles bulging out. He was a formidable looking foe.

"I have heard much about you, Razi, and your nakama. I also have something to tell you." he told her.

She conjured a saber made of ice and cocked her fingers around its hilt. With some fancy sword slashes in front of his face, she pointed the sharp edge at him.

"Well...begin already."

The man finally said, "Well, I was able to sneak onto your husband's ship some time ago."

"And then what?" She yelled, poking her saber at his shoulder.

"I don't know how , but your husband found out where I was going and followed me right back to our base, CP9. At first we didn't think much of him...then the nightmare started."

Eiza raised an eyebrow, and asked, "How did it happen?"

"How did it happen...HOW DID IT HAPPEN?! BITCH, YOU WERE THERE!"

He roundhouse kicked the air creating something so fast and sharp it shattered her saber and plowed into her torso with the strength of a Sea King's headbutt.

Eiza's eyes widened, feeling the sudden attack push her to the ground.

"The old CP9 had seven worthy assassins and two chiefs in their base...we had twenty assassins who fought with everything against your captain...BEFORE HE BECAME KING! We had all six powers, Devil Fruit abilities, and even two of us knew Haki...only for four members of your crew to beat us: a white skin scissor wielder, a white haired boy with two swords, that pirate who ripped good pirates out of being King of the Pirates, and you...bitch."

Eiza grit her teeth in anger. "If you want me dead...then try and kill me!" she retorted, preparing her powers.

Her opponent was harnessing all that Rokushiki had to offer him. First he used Geppo, leaping in the air and then leaping off the air itself. Instead of jumping towards Eiza, he jumped away from her. As he did, she conjured four icicles being held in the air through her ice manipulation. The battle started with Eiza launching all four of her icicles with a fiery flick of her eyebrows doing so.

Her four icicles were contradicting to a serious fight. Without even using another martial arts with Rokushiki, he leaped off the very tip of the spears, doing acrobatics and backflips just from the soles of his feet.

That gave him the opportunity to strike at her, though it became clear she was going to dodge this time.

This time she created a wall of ice around her hips before slipping through to the top of the ice...the ice she created was smashed to big chunks of frozen rocks while Eiza did a backflip and landed on her feet.

Eiza prepared a shield with her ice powers over a weapon. Versatility over offensiveness would give her more of an edge, but her shield only protected her from one Shigan that nearly punctured her neck.

The man attempted to attack her, using his spear to give her a blow or two.

Eiza would normally let a weapon scratch her on account she was made of ice, but have instinctively used her shield to block the thrust and repel it with small force.

Now she was turning the shield into icicle picks and launching a flurry of them at him, who used another move that made his body so hard the icicles shattered.

He smirked. "I know what your doing...your trying to hide yourself so nobody comes and finds out you have Devil Fruit powers...fighting small are we?"

"So you're thinking I'm just a coward? I don't think so." Eiza told him with a glare.

She had an idea involving a weapon falling from the sky and impaling him. If she was lucky this could happen.

Closing her eyes, she began to wait patiently for her weapon to arrive. Soon, a sword made of ice was emerging from the sky, and it eventually reached for the man, swiftly landing into his chest.

Although he was badly hurt, he retaliated with a roundhouse kick...the strongest power in Rokushiki sent her flying back. Although she was still fine after it, this move caused her to spurt blood out of her face.

After deciding to use Rankyaku against her, he fled with the blade still lodged in his stomach. Removing a blade without medical attention could cost him his life and he was wise enough to just hop on out of there.


End file.
